In Passion, In Death
by Witch Amadeus
Summary: A dark fic about Ginny Weasley and what happens when Tom comes back to her in haunting dreams. Voldemort seeks a queen as the light and dark sides grow stronger. She has to choose between that which is right and that which she desires, ultimately changing
1. Prelude

Disclaimer: All belongs to the divine Goddess J.K. Rowling. No infringement is intended. 

Prelude to In Passion, In Death:

_He was with her again. She felt his breath against her neck and his body against hers. He pulled on her hair, made her groan, made her scream. They were in that bed again, completely black marble, black silk sheets and black satin bed curtains. Her skin was pale against it. Her hair fiery. When he dug his teeth into her flesh, the blood that leaked from her veins was fire. It lit the bed ablaze as they made violent, black love. And yet it was love, as she climbed a top him and ripped the bed hangings and wrapped herself in the satin and fire. As he slapped her and she clawed his back and chest. It hurt so good. It felt like hours, but they finished quickly and he gave her a gown of ice, crawling with flame. He led her from pure black places into cities and set her free. People marveled at her beauty. Muggles. Mudbloods. _

_So she taught them lessons, for lusting after her, for desiring what was above them. She made them suffer. They cried and they clawed at her dress, so she stomped on their hands, snapped their fingers and made them suffer more. She laughed and she thought of the one she loved. With his neat black hair and skin as white as her own. Though he had no freckles, only lean muscles. Which she worshipped and she loved. She wreaked all havoc and caused all pain that she knew he would love and would taste in her mouth and on her skin. _

_She saw Thomas. She saw Creevey. She saw Finch- Fletchley. She caused them agony and then let them go. Maybe too soon, she would let the next set of Mudbloods feel her true wrath. She would tell the next ones exactly how much she loved him, her lord. His blackness and his passion. She would taunt them, let them feel it from her wand. He would watch. He would love it. Love her. His lady. His queen. _

_They would return to the bed and crash bodies together again. They would enjoy the clamor of the day, the clamor of the kill in the lull of the time when they were two, when they were the power. Together. And then she arched, screaming soundlessly and she fell down her own throat, into oblivion into a powerful climax and release. Then she would come crashing down and he would take her into his arms. Tom. _

Ginny's back was arched and her mouth open. She let herself relax and sat up, panting. Tom had been visiting her again, as he hadn't when she was eleven years old. And she had liked it. 


	2. To Be or Not To Be

Disclaimer: It does indeed belong to Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and Co. has become a great hulking beast. You heard me. No infringement is intended on my part. Love and kisses, don't sue me. 

A/N: Okay. So, I don't think I write very well, but I get plots constantly. So here goes nothing. A dark fic. I hope you enjoy it. Review please, it brightens my life. Seriously, I live for reviews. 

                Ginny spat in the sink and washed her mouth out with cold, clean water. There was a loud knock on the door. "Wait a minute!" She shouted. "Honestly!" She heard George cursing and another loud knock came.

"I'm seriously desperate, Gin. Let me in for a minute."  She turned on the shower. She was thinking she could skip it for a day, but ultimately changed her mind. As she peeled off her clothes and got under the spray of icy water, just the way she liked it, she heard more cursing. Good. 

                She took another half-hour and walked out smiling happily as a scowling George hopped foot to foot and glared at her. "Patience is a virtue." She said brightly. 

                "You are seriously evil." He said as he knocked into her and slammed the door behind him. 

                "But I look seriously amazing." She drawled. Not that she needed to. She would spend the day packing to head off to Hogwarts. She walked down to the first landing and went into her room. She was pleased to see she had no circles under her eyes as she normally did. She wouldn't cover it up with make-up even if she did have them. She didn't need to. And she knew it. She had gotten to be the best looking thing Hogwarts had to offer. She knew that, too. 

She also knew why she had no circles under her eyes.  Tom had visited her in her sleep. It had been in the beginning of this summer, the one after her fifth year, that it had begun again. She fell asleep eagerly, yet guiltily, when she knew he would greet her again. Some nights she had trivial dreams about nonsense and such other useless things. Most nights however, Tom wooed and thrilled her. Sometimes he was the Lord Voldemort he had become now, things didn't change. She desired him; she was in love with him. She awoke every time she climaxed, but went back to sleep soon thereafter wanting more. 

She had always sworn herself with her family, the good side, and the right thing. She was a carbon copy of her do-gooder parents. But then something had happened; a diary had spoken to her, allured her, and taught her things. Unconsciously, she had begun to despise Muggle-borns and Muggles for their constant questions. The way they didn't understand anything and such simple, stupid things amazed them. She had started to hate Harry Potter even, at first she had loved him for being famous. He could give her power. But then he had turned out to be no different from anyone else; she had realized this and become a person around him. That didn't lure him, and she realized he had no sense of power. He was only a boy only a teenager. She hated them. Never Hermione Granger, however. You never had to explain things to Hermione. 

Ginny hadn't known what Tom was doing to her, and she was shocked and hurt when she found out. But not because of why she had thought. He had lied to her, not let her in on the game, the joke. Someone might have died if she had been competent enough to simply be in her own mind and not Tom's.  She still didn't know if she would have acted on her own free will under the lead of the young Tom, future Lord Voldemort. He knew her secrets and he had told her many of his. They had been partners in crime, and she had loved it. She always felt that she was more to him than a simple death eater. They didn't know that he had been raised as a Muggle born, was indeed only half wizard. They would care, and she didn't. 

She had never been with a man. She always said it was because she wasn't ready, and she knew it wasn't right and it would upset her mother, but she had always known in the back of her mind the real reason. When she was eleven, she was too young to be taken by Tom, but they had shared an indescribable love. She was saving herself for the love of her life. For Tom Riddle. For Lord Voldemort. 

She recalled the annual end-of-the-year fight to vanquish Lord Voldemort and take evil from its reign. It didn't ever seem to work, they just had another year to recuperate and prepare for the next year's gala. The death eaters had broken into the Great Hall and Harry had fled the fight to save Hermione, locked in the hospital wing, from Wormtail. She had been running back to the Great Hall, after covering his and Ron's backs, and run face first into Lord Voldemort himself. Lord Voldemort was cool, calm, and collected, he raised his wand to kill her or cause her immense amounts of pain when she had whispered his name and he had recognized her. "Virginia." He had whispered, and lowered his wand. "You have grown beautiful. You are sixteen now?" He touched her face when she nodded. "Beautiful and powerful. You would help to swell my ranks. But I suppose you would want to stand by my sworn enemy and your blood traitor family?" Strangely, he didn't say it unkindly. He seemed to be genuinely asking out of genuine curiosity. She nodded again. "Where is Potter?" She pointed and he moved away. She collapsed against a wall. Finally she was able to say something. 

"Yes, my lord." If she was honest with herself in that regard, which she often wasn't, she had liked being commanded by him. Liked that power he held over her, and she knew she held over him at certain moments. And she knew he liked the fact that she could do that, when so many of his legions could not. She knew that she belonged at his side and not licking his shoes and kissing his robes as those despicable death eaters did. She knew she was better than the death eaters to Tom. And yet, against all reason, and against everything she had been raised for and against, she wanted to join them with the lust she felt in the dreams that he gave her to lure her away from everything she wasn't quite sure anymore was right and true. She not only wanted to be a death eater; she wanted to be their queen. 

                *                                              *                                              *  

Her meager possessions barely filled a trunk not even magically enlarged. He seemed to be constantly with her, the moment she had thought that a thin voice hissed that he could give her glorious things. She could have wealth, if only she would join his legions and give him her body and her obedience. She shuddered and she ignored the voice. Hermione's spell books alone filled her trunk when it wasn't expanded. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all thrilled to be of age. Harry and Ron apparated everywhere. Hermione walked mostly, thinking them ridiculous. She didn't use her magic for everything, but she glowed every time she did. Hermione came in, attempting to run a brush through her bushy hair. "I am so tired of my hair. I just wish there was some sort of spell or charm that would fix it up every day." 

"Isn't there?" Ginny asked, surprised. She took a long drink from her water glass. She knew of a hundred hair spells. 

"Not for this disaster." She subdued it slightly in a ponytail. She smiled at Ginny. "You ready?" '_Do you see her?' It whispered. '__Writhing in pain, begging for your mercy. Weakness. Punish her!' _

Hermione watched curiously as Ginny choked on her water spilling great quantities down her front from her mouth and the glass. She moved forward as if to help, she grabbed onto her arm and Ginny's head exploded with anger. '_How dare that mudblood touch you! You are not equals! Let her feel what you think of her stepping out of place._' She squeezed hard on Hermione's arm until the girl winced. Ginny relaxed, panting. "Sorry. Sorry." She breathed. "Just… uh…" She searched for a reason and rested on a glossy package in Hermione's trunk. "Cramps." 

"Damn Ginny. You should take a potion for that. Here, I know a few. I got the recipes from Madam Pomfrey so I could make them over the summers. _Repatio_." She copied them onto a new roll of parchment and handed it to Ginny. "I don't have the actual potions right now, but as soon as we get to Hogwarts tomorrow. I'll make you some, I swear."

"Thanks." She collapsed on the bed as Hermione twittered out of the room, muttering about some spell. She put her head in her hands and breathed hard. The wet cloth of her robes clung to her chest. She plucked it away and moaned. She was so tired of being poor, of making excuses to the people that she wanted to someday rule. She calmed down slightly and told Tom sternly to stay out of her head when she was awake. She was surprised when he complied, but couldn't help smiling a little. He was back with her again. 

She had fought on the good side. She was tired of that, too. The good side didn't have the fire to kill. To laugh as they let their hatred pour through their wand. The good guys got hurt. The bad guys hurt. She had been good, it had gotten her a broken ankle, and last year, a shattered arm. She wanted to be bad. She wanted the Slytherins to welcome her. She wanted to plot, to laugh evilly, and to be rebellious. She wanted to toughen up, get in physical brawls and learn to be quick in providing suffering with her wand. Dumbledore's Army had been all well and good, But Albus was just that, good. He didn't command fear, couldn't convince people to give their lives to his cause. A pleasurable shiver shot down her spine as she thought of the death eaters, and of Voldemort, and the way he commanded them. She wished she could be like that. Maybe Tom would teach her. She knew he knew that she missed him. She had only tried to replace him once.

                                *                                              *                                              *

She didn't trust diaries anymore, they didn't talk back. She was confused between light and dark

and her parents weren't helping with their constant simpering and mollycoddling. The summer after her first year, she had begun taking long walks. There was a big park on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole. 

She talked to the man at the refreshment cart, most days he gave her a sleeve of salty peanuts, greasing the wax paper, which she threw to the grateful squirrels. She watched the artists set up their easels and draw various landscapes. There was one man in particular, his art took her breath away, who she liked to watch. She eventually got the courage to talk to him, and she had quietly fallen in love with him. Muggle, though he was. He was 25, from America. Called himself Rick. He came from New York, which she had dreamed of. His hair and skin were dark. His eyes were black and she loved to watch him brush his hair away from their wet surfaces. He wore paint stained jeans and a navy blue hoodie over various button up dress shirts. He was a math teacher, but he spent most of  his summer days painting. 

He sat for a long time, sipping coffee from a white cardboard cup, with the bumpy brown slip constantly adjusting itself to the grip of his hands. She loved his hands more than anything. He had broad, flat nails and wide knuckles. They shook slightly as he brushed wide strokes across his canvas with his charcoal pieces. His palms were pale and rough. When he was thinking he would clutch his chin with those glorious hands and leave smudges across his skin. When she laughed he would grin sheepishly and try to wipe them away, only making them worse. She would wipe them away tenderly with her handkerchief and he would shake his head and make her blush. 

She didn't tell her parents where she went when she didn't come home until late, but she followed Rick to his studio apartment and had the time of her life. They cooked pasta, mostly, together. He gave her art lessons and wine. She bought a pair of loose fitting overalls and let them get stained with paint, like Rick's art pants. He told her she was a natural, and she thought to herself that maybe she was. He didn't ask whether she needed to home when she curled up on his futon and slept over. Her parents learned not to ask either. They didn't tell her brothers. Rick bought her charcoal pencils and sticks and a sketchbook. 

"Whose that man you're always drawing?" He asked over her shoulder one day. 

"Tom." She had filled in the strokes of his hair and made him smile. 

"Boyfriend?"

"Not anymore." She sighed. 

"His smile. He looks deranged. Like he's going to haul off and kill someone."

"Like Harry Potter?" She took a long look at him and shut the sketchbook. She had had Charlie perform a spell that kept the pages from smudging. 

"Huh?" She ignored his question and took the glass of wine from his hand and took a long pull. He went over to the counter and filled himself another one. 

"Sometimes I think you live in a completely different world, Virginia." She had finished the glass of wine and set it on the floor so she could crash on the futon. 

"Me too, Rick. Me too."  

The day before she had to leave for Diagon Alley, so the family could spend some time with Harry Potter, he had watched her down most of a glass of wine. "I think I'm cutting you off." He had pulled away her glass. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder what kind of teacher I am, letting a little girl drink alcohol alone in my apartment. My flat." He said before she could correct him. He had accepted her excuse that she went to boarding school, even though most kids from this town didn't. 

"Rick." She let the name roll off her lips and pulled herself onto the counter, pulling him forward so her knees rested on his hips. He looked confused. "I've had such a good summer holiday. I hope to see you next summer holiday. I just wanted you to know that I might not be able to write and I love you." 

"Why, I love you too, Virginia. You're a sweet kid." He had patted her on top of the head and was utterly surprised when she leaned forward and shared her first kiss with a man more than twice her age. It lasted 32 ½ seconds before he pulled back. His eyes were wide. "I'll walk you back." He pulled on his hoodie and helped her stumble home. She sobered up on the long walk back and blushed as it slowly began to sink in what she had done. And what he had done, too. For a few seconds, before he came to his senses, he had kissed her back. She still blamed it on a little too much alcohol.

Rick had walked her home before, but he had never met her parents. She could see them on a porch about a mile away, but they hadn't seen her coming. She could tell they were talking about what they had been talking about for the last couple of weeks. Sirius Black being after Harry Potter.  A follower of Lord Voldemort's? His right-hand man? Well, he'd be a jolly fellow to meet. They came out to meet them in the middle of the yard, to the edge of where the porch light still reached. "Ginny." Her mother said softly, eyeing Rick suspiciously, "You know we have to leave early tomorrow." 

"I know. I was hanging out with some friends at the park, and Rick came along and told me how late it is and offered to walk me home. I'm sorry, Mum. The light doesn't mean anything anymore. I lose track of time." She kissed her mother on the cheek and smiled sweetly. Molly found herself smiling, too. 

"Well, wasn't that nice of… Rick, is it?" 

"Yessum." He breathed. He was acting nervous around her parents. She didn't know why. 

"You hang out with Rick in the park?" Molly asked to her daughter.

"Nom." Rick answered. "I'm the teacher of some of her friends. She's a sweet girl. The other girls take art lessons from me and she comes along sometimes. She's very good."

"She hasn't shown us any of her work." Her father finally spoke. Both were frowning at Rick furiously and he shifted his feet uncomfortably. Something finally dawned on her father. "You're a Muggle! Oh bless my soul!" Ginny covered her eyes with her hand and shook her head. What else would he be? 

"A- uh…" Rick looked a Ginny helplessly. "A Muggle?"

"Dad. I've told it's proper to say Hispanic." Ginny said through gritted teeth.

"I've never heard that one before." Rick seemed to know she was lying. She wanted him to leave and go inside and be yelled at by her parents. She wanted to go up to her room and think about her first kiss. She wanted to think. 

"A school! A school. You must use… uh… uh…" Her father was getting excited and using sign language. She closed her eyes in horror. 

"A stapler?" Rick guessed, obviously confused. "Yes, yes I suppose we do." 

"And that's to put papers together." Arthur said knowledgeably. "And what is that thing you use to copy paper?" She didn't open her eyes but she could tell he was sign languageing because of the scuffling noises. 

"A Xerox machine." Rick said, completely dead pan. He must have thought her parents insane. 

"You must come in for a night cap."

"Now Arthur… do you really think that's wise?"

"Molly, dear, please." 

"I think Rick probably needs to get home." Ginny said loudly. 

"Yeah, yeah, I should probably…" He said gratefully and then stopped at the look on her father's face. "Alright. I have a few minutes." Arthur started happily towards the door with his furious wife in tow. 

"Are you sure? My parents are kind of crazy."

"I've never been in your house." He said with a crooked grin. She let him in first and let the screen door slam shut behind them. Ron was beating George at chess and Percy was chasing after Fred for his head boy badge. Rick was looking at their robes interestingly. She grabbed on to his arm to steer him into the kitchen before they noticed him. Arthur was tipping brandy into a mug of tea. Rick took it gratefully and took a long gulp, sitting down at the table. Ginny took tea, but secretly poured herself a little plug to calm her nerves. She gave herself a little more when she realized she was relying on alcohol at the age of ten. Things were going surprisingly well, when Percy walked in and complained loudly that Fred had taken his badge and George had hidden his wand so he couldn't curse him. Rick squeezed her knee under the table and raised his eyebrows at her. Molly bustled off all asunder and allowed Ginny to sneak Rick out back. 

"I'm sorry about my family. They're harmless, I promise."

"I won't ask." He put his head in his hands and looked over the property around her house. "This really is a beautiful section of land." There was a loud bang from the house. 

"Right. I'll see you around, Rick." He walked away. "I really do love you." He stopped for a moment, but didn't turn around. She never went back to the park.

*                                              *                                              *       

                If she had to pick two Muggles to stay alive, she would pick Rick and Hermione. She wasn't sure about who she would pick if she had to pick one. She used to play a game in her mind where she would have to choose between people. One would live and the other would die. She usually picked herself dying, and allowed both to live, and she thought this was pretty noble of herself. She wished she could tell the people about it, but knew that it was pretty disturbing as it was. She had told Rick about it and he had laughed and told her she would never have to die for him. She hadn't seen him since that night and she had thought she wanted it that way. But now Tom was back, and she needed to remind herself why she was on the good side, when the dark side was calling her back. Hermione was too close to the wizarding world. She needed to talk to Rick. She told her mother she was going lunch in the village, assured her she was packed and changed into her nicest Muggle clothes. School was in session in the village. She thought she could catch him on his lunch hour, but the lady at the front desk told her that he had just begun his afternoon classes minutes ago. She shrugged. 

                "I'm sorry, my dear. His free period is in 45 minutes. Is there anything I can help with?" 

                "No, thank you." She turned to go and then turned when she was at the door. "Maybe you can help me. Which is his classroom? Is there any way I can just observe his class? I really do need to talk to him today." The woman pursed her lips for a moment and glanced around. 

                "I'm sure that'll be fine. Just sign this and take a visitor's tag. I assume you're over eighteen?" 

                "Yes, maam. I don't have my ID with me right now but…" She shrugged and gave her a sweet smile. The woman beamed. 

                "That's quite alright." Ginny signed her name to the line and checked the time on her watch. She clipped the tag to her front and followed the woman's directions. She took a long drink from the fountain beside the door and decided to investigate the bathrooms. She hovered above the seat and relieved herself and let her nervousness subside somewhat. Tom hissed in her ear. _What are you doing? She told him again to help her maintain the image she was sane when she was awake and calmly told him that she was keeping her enemies closer. He knew she was lying, but left her mind again, she knew he was there at the back this time. And kept her thoughts to a minimum. She finally opened the door to the classroom and shut it quietly behind her. He was in brown dress slacks and a button down white dress shirt. He stopped talking and his face relaxed with shock. The entire class, they looked a few years younger then herself, turned to look as well. She opened her mouth, closed it, and tried again.  _

                "Rick." She hadn't seen him for years and she could barely say his name. It had been about four years, she realized. He didn't look any different, save a few lines fanning from his eyes. 

                "Virginia." He recovered quickly. "Won't you take a seat? There's one. Yes, right back there next to Mr. Bode." She took one of three empty seats at the back of the classroom. She watched him, as he tried to not look at her, and was aware that they were being observed like a tennis match. She hadn't learned any higher arithmetic, and found the lesson quite interesting. Mr. Bode, Bobby, as his letter jacket read, was a bulky football player who, unlike the rest of the class, looked a little older than here. She looked over at him only once to find him staring at her. She widened her eyes at him and then blinked a few times, trying not look over again though she could feel his eyes running over her. She stayed seated when the bell rang. And watched everyone file out except a mousy girl with blonde hair who approached the desk. Ginny got closer and sat on the top of one of the front row desks. The girl shot a nervous glance back at her and then cleared her throat and spoke in a young voice.  

                "You wanted to meet me after class, Professor?" 

                "Yes, Rebecca. You don't mind if Virginia is here?"

                "No sir. Why did you want to…?"

                "You're late from lunch every day. Almost every single assignment is incomplete or not turned in. You don't talk in class and…" His voice lowered. "You come in with bruises every day."

                "Oh, those." She looked back at Ginny once. Ginny found herself using a skill that she had been given by Tom, she met the girl's eyes and probed into her mind. She slid over glass walls behind the beautiful green of her eyes. There it was. She concentrated hard, and she saw the girl, working after school. Calling in when she couldn't wake up her father. When he was awake, he hit her. With his thick, calloused hands, with a beer bottle, with anything he could grasp and swing. She took it and hid her little brother. He was just a baby and he still woke up sometimes at night. She ran home and took care of him at lunch. Ginny gasped as the girl, Rebecca, broke the gaze and looked back at her teacher. Rick glanced at her once before looking at Rebecca. "They're just from playing rugby. With the kids in my neighborhood."

                "Maybe you should spend less time… playing rugby and more time doing your math homework. Run along to class or you'll be late." She closed the door quietly behind her. "So…" 

                "She's lying." Ginny said. 

                "I'm not stupid." He stood up and leaned against the desk.  

                "Maybe you are, that you don't do anything about it. You could call social services or something." She snapped. She didn't like what she had found in that girl's mind. "How did her mother die?"

                "Drug overdose. And I will call Social Services," He raised his eyebrows and she realized that she shouldn't have known that the girl's mother was dead. "What are you doing here?" 

                "I love you. And you're a Muggle." She wasn't speaking to him. 

                "I thought Hispanic was the proper term." She looked at him as if she were seeing him the first time. "Virginia?" His voice softened and he reached out to her. "Why now?"

                "I just need clarity." She whispered, and it felt good to walk into his arms. He smelled sweetly, the same as she remembered him. "Can we talk?" 

                "Can we not?" He propped her chin up and looked into her eyes. "You're a woman now, aren't you? Still small though, you always were." 

                "I wish I was just here to sleep with you," A bell startled her and she jumped back. "Do you have some time? The woman at the front desk said this was your lunch hour." 

                "There's a pretty café near here. Do you want to?" She nodded and he let her through the classroom door first before closing it. They left quietly and walked for a bit in silence. 

                "So, what've you been up to?" She finally said. 

                "I'll tell you. It's been a long four years."

                "I bet you still thrill your lady students." He didn't answer and she swallowed. "Why has it been a long four years?" 

                "I told you about Angelica?" A junior he had been in love with, and ashamed of it. But he had told her. "She had to get rid of our baby. I didn't want her to…" He shook his head, his jaw set.

                "You…"

                "I should have lost my job. But no one ever found out. I can't believe I just told you, but I did. I always trusted you. I'm a right old pedophile, Virginia. I mean, how old are you?"

                "You know as well as I." 

                "Even at twelve, you seemed twenty to me. You're sixteen now. My prime game." They sat at a front table and ordered coffees and sandwiches. He put his head in his hands. "That night. You were so young and you told me that you loved me. And I loved you. I told you so, I know I did. I let you drink and I let you come over and I… I let you kiss me."

                "You kissed me back."

                "It was wrong." He said softly. "I get normal crushes and such now. Women my own age. But there have been two girls who have always stood out. Angelica."

                "And me?"

                "You. You always had some big secret. I wanted to unlock your mind and look inside. I always wanted you. Too young you were. Do you still draw?" 

                "The only time I come down to this village is to buy more supplies. I've dabbed a little into painting. I avoid this place, otherwise."

                "That's my fault." He looked at her and she marveled at the pain on his face. She didn't deny it. 

                "I was young, Rick. I was twelve. There was something that made me age. I know it. There's something that makes me a child and a woman." 

                "You know it." He seemed surprised. "But you don't always show it. And you were old. I always felt I was talking to someone my own age. But you were young and you were gawky. My body wanted your mind. It could never come to terms with your age unless you were hidden under those damn overalls. You hid the fact you were a child." He accused. 

                "I was always as old as you wanted me to be." She wondered to herself what made her so grown-up. "Our relationship was inappropriate. There was never anything beyond that kiss. But we desired each other. And that's more than any 12 year old should expect from a 25 year old. But I always expected it. From you, in time, and from Tom. From every boyfriend I ever had, but they didn't last because they didn't have the capacity for being as old as I wanted them to be. "

                "The boy you always drew." 

                "That was Tom." She said softly, she accepted her coffee and sipped at it. 

                "He aged you." Rick said perceptively. He took his own coffee.

                "Yes, and I'm grateful to him. But he's considered bad. And my family is… good." 

                "What are those defined by?  Is this why you came to talk?"

                "You wouldn't understand definition of this scale and yes, this is what I came to speak to you of." 

                "Why do you need to speak to me if this is about Tom?"

                "In falling for you, I betrayed him."

                "Was he racist or something?"

                "You could say that."  She nodded and finished her coffee with a gulp. "The only thing is, he's back. And I have to choose. Between good and evil. You're my median. I suppose I was hoping you would say something profound and let me know the way."

                "You're not racist. I don't understand what this conflict is!" Their sandwiches came and they were silent as the waiter came and went and both were quiet while they started on the food. 

                "It comes to racism. But it also goes deeper than that. Into politics. " She admitted. "There's so much gray for me. Things are black and white to most other people involved in the controversy. But me… I didn't get off that easy because on one hand I follow the leader of the bad guys."

                "Tom?"

                "Right. On the other hand my family holds allegiance to the good guys. And I am defined by my family." He didn't answer for a little while.

                "Not to me."

                "Exactly." She shook her head. "That's why I need you to help me. Tell me what to do. How can I remain in the gray and still stay in the legions of my family and the bad guys?"

                "I can't tell you."

                "I know. But I wish you would." She sighed and they both found they didn't have anything to say. They finished their lunch and he paid. She walked him back. 

                "I still have a few minutes before class. Do you want some closure…?" He gestured her into his classroom. She sat on his desk. He stood in front of her. "You really have become a woman." 

                "A young woman. I hate to admit it. But I'm still young. You could do to remember that."

                "I know." He walked forward and pushed slightly, not giving her the option of refusing as he cradled her hips in the hands that she loved. "But seeing you…" She put her thighs around his hips. 

                "Love is still love. No matter how inappropriate." She found her breath becoming short and her voice husky. "I've always loved you. No matter what. I will, I think, forever." 

                "So will you let me…" He leaned in close to her ear. "in on your secret? Can I finally unlock your mind?" 

                "No." She whispered, and he could hear the tears in her voice. "If I let you in my mind I'll give you the rest of me. I can't do that, I'm not ready. I can't give myself away, yet."

                "Will you come to see me more often?" She shivered at his hot breath at her neck, his lips close but not touching the tender flesh.   

                "Tom was Muggle born. He'll let me keep a few for myself." She said, and he somehow understood and he kissed her. She understood too and realized he had said the profound and she knew where her allegiance lay though she didn't know how to get there. 

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                Ginny sat quietly and drew in her sketch book on the way. Luna was in with Harry. In love and in his compartment. She was tired of being the third wheel on the way to Hogwarts in compartments with couples or groups of friends that she didn't belong to. So she had stopped pretending and taken her own compartment. She had changed into her robes early on, and had been drawing faces. A new one was taking shape and she didn't recognize him yet. She rarely drew women. They all came out looking like Pansy Parkinson. So she stuck to men, generally. She had a few self portraits and a few pictures of girls from Gryffindor and Luna. She liked faces best, but close behind was the full bodies. Conveying a person's mood in the tilting of a hip of a flick of the wrist. 

                She never drew people she didn't know. Or people that she thought up. Everyone came from the world around her. Every picture had a name beneath her signature, if she couldn't put a name on it, she had Hermione wipe it clean and started on a new one. She often didn't know who she was drawing until she recognized a feature and knew to make adjustments here or there. This person with slicked back blonde hair was slowly shaping. He had a pointed face and his eyes… she made a swipe and made an impatient noise. It was Draco Malfoy. Oh well. He had been appearing more and more frequently lately. She finished it up and studied the picture. 

                It was a good likeness. Not the best she had done, but one of the best in this particular sketchbook, which was almost full of Draco Malfoy, Tom and Rick. In this sketchbook she also had herself with a dark mark, making love to all of the above men. Her drawings had gotten more and more sensual as she grew up, but she still favored faces. Her sketchbooks were full of proof of that. And she had many. She had opened a Gringotts account, and every time she made it to Diagon Alley, she put them into the account with all the money she had. She vowed that even if she didn't marry a rich man, or become the queen of the dark lord she would be rich by the time she was out of Hogwarts. The only thing she bought were more art supplies. She let her parents meager reserves pay for the rest. Ginny knew that someday she would rule the world. And she enjoyed the thought.

                She shut the sketchbook quickly as the subject of her painting came in with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy Parkinson followed behind, stroking her prefect's badge absently. "Weasel. Out."

                "What gives you the right to…?" She stood up angrily.

                "I'm a prefect, and if I wasn't it's because I'm better than you and richer and…"

                "You always act like I'm proud of it! You think these just bounce off of me?" She pushed her wand up against his throat and ignored the noises made from the others. "I think maybe they've addled my brains. I think I may just kill you." 

                "You wouldn't. You're a Weasley." 

                "And you're a Malfoy, whose to say I wouldn't? We're enemies, isn't that what we do to each other?" She saw his eyes grow wide, but was pleased that he wasn't scared yet. He would hurt her if she scared him. "If my family name is the only thing keeping me from killing you, you're already dead." 

That had scared him. He swiped her wand away and grabbed onto her throat, squeezing. She refused to make noise. She pulled his arm away instead, he didn't put up much resistance. "You've grown cocky, haven't you Malfoy? Now that the Dark Lord has returned to power." 

                "Get out of the compartment!" He waved away his friends as they made to move her without her consent. "Get out! Everywhere else is full."

                "I suppose you all have been having a giant lovefest in the bathroom, in the time that the rest of us were finding seats." She snapped. She didn't move. "What is the Dark Lord's policy on homosexuality? You're in luck if he's Episcopalian. I myself think them rather wise."

                "I thought only Death Eaters called him the Dark Lord." 

                "You would know. Let me guess what you call him…" She put a finger to her chin and pretended to be thinking hard. 

                "I certainly know what you call him. Fell in love with the bloke in the diary, did you?" He smirked, but it faded as she smiled confidentially. 

                "You act as if I'm not proud. And it takes two to tango."

                "You… you're bluffing." He accused. 

                "Maybe. Maybe not. But considering this is the most we've ever spoken, I don't think you'll ever truly know." She leaned in and whispered. "Until of course, we meet again." His eyes widened. She left the compartment. She went back a moment later, but was frustrated to find it magically locked. She kicked the door. It didn't open. She waited outside the compartment the whole way, but was pushed along to the outside of the train when they arrived in the station, no matter how much she fought against it. She saw him with it in his arms and saw also that he hadn't opened it. The cover was blue. A fun charm that Hermione had put on it that signaled when it had been opened by the color of the cover. She sighed and climbed in with her brother and his girlfriend and Harry and his. Her hands were clammy and her breath short. Draco Malfoy had her sketch book, and she had no idea how to get it back.  


	3. A Force Growing

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related material are owned by Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. No infringement is intended on my part. Thanks for not suing me. 

Read and Review, please! 

                "Rather risqué, yeah?" Blaise ran a finger down a drawing that depicted a different woman in a similar position that she had just been in. The man was the same, not only because of the name but because it was painfully accurate. It was almost as if the little Weasley had bedded him herself. 

                "Yes. A little." Draco glanced at the drawing but didn't seem vaguely interested. Blaise was surprised. Draco was a passionate person, but ever since she had seen him this summer, he had been strangely detached. 

                "What's your damage? You're starring in artful porn and you aren't off humiliating this girl. This _Weasley_." She ran a hand down his thigh and meowed into his ear. Blaise was irresistible. The Dark Lord had taken her before she wandered and he had to kill this interesting toy. No man got a Death Eater woman until the Dark Lord had dipped his quill. The girls had been raised as objects, trained to please men. In private, Blaise knew, many of them felt differently. They needed a queen, a cold, but female, touch.

                "It's three in the morning, what do you want me to do?" He rolled over and made to sleep. 

                "React, for god's sake." She pulled on her robes and pushed out of the bed, breaking the sound spell. "And Heavens to Elizabeth, don't start getting doubts about initiations. I'll be forced to stun you." 

                "That's not it!" Draco whispered furiously. "I've never wanted anything as badly as to be a Death Eater, I've been raised in the Dark Arts. I eat, sleep, and breath anticipation. It's something else." 

                "Oh, okay. I hope you can still recognize sarcasm, I can. Go to bed, Draco. Don't get yourself killed." Draco grabbed her arm and kissed her, a satisfied smirk lingering on his lips. She caught her breath. 

                "Morag MacDougal looked a little lonely, why don't you just jump in with him. It's your job." 

                "Oh, I can see your anticipation is of the women's liberation. Fuck off and let me think for myself." She barely contained her urge to slam the door. Draco watched her go propping himself up with his arms behind his head. He closed the hangings and lit his wand back up, eagerly grabbing at the sketch book. There were drawings of him and of 'Tom' and 'Rick'. 

                "Muggles and blood traitors, I'm sure." He mumbled, rolling his eyes. There were a few ones that were indeed, rather risqué, and a couple of the Tremendous Trio that made him roll his eyes until his head hurt, but then there were the self portraits. There she sat, naked beneath black sheets. She clutched at her covers with an arm that bore the Dark Mark. Her eyes were frightened and her teeth gripped her lip. She made herself beautiful, but she wasn't tooting her own horn. He would never say it to anyone, but she was prettier than probably anyone of Hogwarts. She didn't act like it, but apparently she knew it. He probed, with his body magic and felt hostility, yet love in the drawings of himself. Longing in Rick's and Tom was lust. He was in most of the 'artful porn'. There was one that conveyed the same as Tom's. Exactly the same. It was an eerily accurate portrayal of the Dark Lord. It was a facial detail, except for a hand, small, girlish and freckled, caressing the face. The nails had been bitten. Draco couldn't shake the sense that the Dark Lord was being commanded by this hand. He scratched his head and slid the sketch book under the mattress.

                He shivered. He knew where this came from and yet he couldn't believe. Wasn't this girl a Weasley? A good, noble do-gooding Weasley? What did this girl want? He realized with a start that she probably didn't know anymore than he did. 

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                "Ginny?" Hermione pulled Ginny's hand away from her mouth. "Stop biting your nails. It drives your brother crazy and he'll be down in just a few minutes." Ginny rolled her eyes, but did as Hermione asked. "I know you hate it."

                "Why should he dictate my nervous tics?" She thundered. "He's my brother, not my keeper." 

                "He's just nit picky, Gin. You know that as well as the rest of us. Everything has to be just so." Harry indicated with his hands and dug into his potatoes. He looked over her shoulder and sighed. "Luna's sitting by herself, why won't she just come sit with me?" 

                "Did it ever occur to you that maybe you don't have to spend every waking minute together?" Hermione groaned. "We're much too young to be thinking about…"

                "Alright, alright. She can sit on her own." Harry winked at Ginny, who looked down at her plate with a guilty lurch of her stomach. They would all hate her when she was on the other side. She tried to convince herself that she wouldn't mind, but a small part of her still needed approval from these people that she used to looked so adoringly up to. Harry was a normal person, not power-hungry as she was, but he was still the boy-who-lived. She would have used the power he had for something different. 

                "I liked Hawkeye." Harry was saying. "And I liked… Heyman?"

                "Heyward. Duncan Heyward, yes I suppose I sort of fell for his character." Hermione said. 

                "What are you guys talking about?" Ginny asked. 

                "The Last of the Mohicans. A truly excellent novel about the American Independence War. It puts the English in a bad light, but so does every other text of the time. My dad says it's all true, but I still wouldn't have minded marrying Heyward."

                "Me either." Harry chuckled. "I didn't like the sisters. Or the way Hawkeye was constantly apologizing and telling everyone he wasn't half-blood."

                "I thought it was awfully sad when Alice offed herself in the end though. I always thought her a bit of a nutter, though. Cora, too." Ron sat down and pulled every plate within reach towards himself. 

                "I find it amazing that you can just jump right into a conversation and have no idea what we're talking about." Hermione commented. 

                "But I do know what you're talking about. Ginny, stop biting your nails." She made an impatient noise. "You know, the Mohicans thing has a lot of relevance to the war at hand. The independence of the light from the dark. Except things were much more gray back than." Ginny sat up at the familiar analogy.

                "And to think I've ever doubted why I started dating you." She kissed Ron on the cheek. 

                "You've what?" He sputtered. 

                "Yeah, she's going to dump you for Heyward." Harry joked. Ron turned red around the ears.

                "Hermione, how did you get my brother to read?" Ginny wanted to know.   

                "Made him start it and he liked it. The wizarding world needs to diversify their interests in a time like this." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "The way some people don't even know what a paper towel is," she glared for a moment at Ron, "is shameful." 

                "Why does everyone just say, in a time like this? Why can't you just say now that Lord Voldemort is back in power?" Harry complained. Ron flinched and Hermione blushed, but Ginny saw red. 

                "Don't say his name!" She shouted, drawing stares. "You don't deserve-!" She cut herself off, realizing what she was saying. Panting, she stood. 

                "Ginny, what has gotten into you? You used to-" Ron grabbed onto her hand.

                "I know. I know, I'm sorry." She pulled her arm away and elbowed someone, before rushing away. Draco rubbed a spot on his chest and winced. 

                "Malfoy!" Both boys stood and Hermione pulled out her wand. "What do you want?" Harry said through gritted teeth. 

                "Oh sod it. You think I came over here to pick a fight with you mudbloods and blood-traitors? Think again." He picked up a handful of crisps and took a bite, before spitting it out. "Reeks of Muggle filth. You should have told me you've been eating these, Granger. Oh, look I've gone and started a fight. " Harry opened his mouth, but before he could do anything, Draco's wand was out and Harry was on the floor, bleeding from his head. Snape grabbed him from behind and dragged him away. But Draco watched as long as he could as Harry attracted a huge crowd. 

                "Foolish. Very foolish." Snape muttered. He let Draco go and pushed him towards the dungeons. "Your punishment will be fierce and no one will be pleased at your rashness."

                "My father can no longer touch me. I am not yet under the Dark Lord's reign."

                "You will be soon. It would be prudent to watch what you do in the public eye." Snape hissed. He swept back into the Great Hall. Draco saw something that made his step falter before running to his rooms. 

                Hermione watched as most of the Slytherins filed out of the Great Hall. Blaise Zabini shot her a last look and her heart gave a squeeze when their eyes met, she clutched Ron's arm. He looked at her and then up at the Great Hall doors. "Love?"

                "I've never seen anyone so fast." She whispered so only Ron could hear. He swallowed and looked at Harry, muttering on the floor. He hadn't either.

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                 Draco's breath was short as everyone began arguing amongst themselves. He flopped into a chair and was forgotten.  "Everyone knows that we're out. We don't have the Dark Mark yet, which is the only thing incriminating. Whose to say we aren't going to pick a little tiff or two to show the blood-traitors and mudbloods what we're really about?" Blaise shouted to the crowd from a table she had jumped onto. Many people cheered. Morag MacDougal climbed onto the table beside her.  

                "I'd say performing dark magic on one of the most prominent figures of the resistance is pretty damn incriminating. It hurts the rest of us to show loyalty to those who can not control the impulses that should be kept under the hood of our garb. Do not listen to this… woman, who poisons your mind with the loyalty of her lover." Morag bellowed, and there were more cheers and yells. They turned quickly to Draco, before Blaise yelled out and captured their attention again. 

                "Must we get in a riot every time a new attack is formed? Must we create mutiny among a family that is one in the heart of the Dark Lord? Our leader has cautioned us against dark magic before we are able to pull a mask over our head and our sleeves down over the Dark Mark that will belong to everyone of you once you graduate. There are others in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and even… Gryffindor, who will expand our glorious ranks. They didn't not grow up in the heart. But we will not turn away a pureblood!"

                "NO!" Came the cry. Morag looked surprised at Blaise, a brainless female, leading the crowd in making her decision. 

                "So why? Why do you want to turn away the son of the right hand man of our leader, our savior from rotten blood?" People looked at each other and murmured. "Because he burns with the need to exterminate the enemy? We all do. Did you see the way he struck Potter down?" She nodded appreciatively. Most of the crowd imitated her. "We are lucky to have such a force on our side. We shall celebrate his spells and remind him to use discretion no matter how eager he may get." She met Draco's eyes, and he nodded to her. "And we can all hope that we can become as gifted as Malfoy. And that we can all have practice at self-control in the days until we join the ranks of the Dark Lord." There were claps and cheers. Blaise and Morag jumped down and the crowd began to disperse. Snape stood at the entrance of the common room. Students pushed past him as he approached Blaise, his eyes cold, his hands slowly clapping. She grabbed onto Draco's shoulder. "You alright?" He nodded. 

                "A moving speech, Ms. Zabini." She nodded to her teacher suspiciously. 

                "The students needed to be contained." She defended. 

                "And suppose I had brought the Headmaster with me to collect Draco?" Her eyes widened slightly, but her face remained calm. 

                "I do not fear Dumbledore. He is a Muggle loving old fool. I would sooner leave Hogwarts than watch my tongue around that…"

                "I would that you leave Hogwarts if that is indeed your attitude." Snape snapped. 

                "It is!" She yelped, finally becoming flustered, "to be under the reign of that, when I could be with the Dark Lord. What is it that keeps you from expelling me into the legions when you know I would be useful, more useful than bending the minds of foolish school children?" 

                "Exactly that. You have just let yourself show emotion. Your ability is ready for the Dark Lord's side, but I hope that in the year to come, you will learn to control your useless emotions. Harden your heart, Blaise, and you will be able to give it to the movement. Draco, come." Draco watched as Blaise relaxed her face and watched in uninterested indifference as they left. 

                "Do you think I'll be expelled?" He said to Snape, practicing keeping emotion from his voice. Snape glanced at him and didn't answer him for a moment.

                "Dumbledore will keep you here, if only to keep you from the movement. I had not realized your abilities were such, Draco. I don't suppose that any student excels your powers." 

                "There was one, in my fifth year, that caught me unguarded."

                "With your pants around your ankles?" Snape spat. He disapproved of the Dark Lord's lenient attitude of sex, and even the Dark Lord knew it. 

                "Don't be crude. She was being restrained and all of sudden she was a tornado of spells and hexes. I had no time to even retrieve my own wand from my own pockets before I was attacked."

                "Interesting. Who was the girl?"

                "Ginny Weasley." Snape coughed. Draco gave him a sharp look. "An excellent Bat Bogey curse. The best I think I've ever seen." A smile twitched Snape's lips. "Professor. There is something…" 

                "Yes."

                "Has Weasley ever been accused of dabbling in the Dark Arts?"

                "Not that I am aware of."

                "Don't lie." Draco said dryly. "I grow tired of the practice. I know what I know, I want to hear it from you." 

                "Do not dare to order me around! I will tell you that in her first year, she was possessed by the Dark Lord. I am surprised your father didn't tell you. He was responsible."

                "Are you really?" Snape didn't answer and instead said the password to Dumbledore's guardian and let Draco go in first. Dumbledore looked grave. 

                "You have acted rashly and foolishly."

                "I know sir." He put tears into his voice and eyes and stared at his shoes. If Dumbledore met his eyes he might know what Draco was truly feeling. "I feel stupid about it."

                "Mr. Potter is fine. I'm sure you are thrilled to hear it. Classes start in moments and he will be able to attend them without trouble." A bell blared and Dumbledore nodded, Draco saw through the corner of his eye. "You however, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I should suspend you or expel, but I do not wish to have you away from the castle…"

                "Sir?"

                "For reasons of my own. A month's detention. During that period all your Quidditch privileges will be revoked." Draco made a noise. "You are lucky that I am not taking them away in a period where you will have a game. You are even more lucky I am not taking them away completely."   

                "To class." Snape pointed and snapped his fingers, his voice terse. "Hold off my class, while I speak with the Headmaster."

                "Yes, sir." Draco bowed out of the room and headed down to the Potions classroom. The two teachers waited until they heard the gargoyle leap back into place, and had Fawkes check quickly to make sure that he was not pulling one over on them. 

                "I fear the graduating class." Snape admitted, slumping into a chair. 

                "Why?"

                "None have equaled ability to Draco Malfoy, but many are close. They are powerful and their reasoning is becoming more and more seductive. Blaise Zabini. She is another one that troubles me. The Dark Lord has been considering, in the two years he has been back, to receive a queen. Blaise would be an ideal candidate. She is beautiful and strong-willed. People are allured by her. My house would have ripped Draco limb from limb if it had not been for her."

                "You think she will be queen? She is very green."

                "She is. But the Dark Lord prefers young flesh."

                "You think she will be queen?" Dumbledore pressed. 

                "Yes. And then no. There is someone who preoccupies him, but no one knows who it is. It could be Blaise Zabini. But there is something that suggests to me that she will come out of no where. We have truly had no indication who it may be. But if I had to pick right now, she is who my choice would be."

                "Thank you, Severus. You should get to your class." Snape nodded and exited. Dumbledore stroked his beard and collected his thoughts. If Severus was right, and he generally was, then the army of the Dark Lord would be a force to be reckoned with.

                Back in the class, Blaise spoke quietly to Draco. Snape was five minutes late, but the class was too well-trained to do anything except murmur excitedly. Harry looked pale, surrounded by the Gryffindors, who glared over at the Slytherins. "There was something else you were saying?" Blaise whispered. Crabbe and Goyle were leaning in too, but they didn't seem to understand why.

                "The Weasley girl. When Snape dragged me out of the hall. I saw her."

                "I'm excited." Blaise said blandly. "Why is this important?"

                "She was looking through the gap in the hinges. She had obviously seen what had just happened."

                "Her and the rest of the Great Hall."

                "Will you quit interrupting?" He snapped angrily. "I saw Weasley outside the Great Hall watching the big deal over Saint Potter and she was all flushed and…" He leaned in closer to her ear. "Blaise, she was smiling." 

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                _"So you don't believe in fairy stories, my love?" Tom swiped a hand down her waist. She growled with pleasure. _

_                "Tom, you know better than that. I live a fairy story." Her voice was rich._

_                "So you have seen. Seen my power. Can you yet resist it?" The power crackled in his voice and around his hands. She shivered at the sight of the raw power. _

_                "I can't. You've known from the beginning." She accused. He allowed himself an indulgent smile. _

_                "You've learned."_

_                "I have."_

_                "Then I will not have to teach you the lesson in other ways." His eyes suddenly contracted. _

_                "Don't waste your breath. You wouldn't dare." She snapped, angry as well. "Any other person that would have taken any longer, that would have kissed a Muggle to decide you would have killed. You will never kill me." He nodded as if he knew it. _

_                "But we had better not let anyone know that you have such power over their Lord."_

_                "Over their God." She whispered, close to his ear, eager to bed him. "My God." _

                Ginny woke up, knowing that someone's hands were on her sketchbook. She knew whose they were. He was touching with his magic. As he had done the night before. Her soul had touched those pages and she could feel his caress of her art. 

                Draco couldn't take his eyes off of the self-portrait that contained only Weasley, black sheets and a Dark Mark. He checked the title again and ran his fingers over it. _Waiting for Tom_. 


	4. An Initiation of Sorts

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related material are not owned by me. No infringement is intended. Kisses. Don't sue me please. Thanks a million. 

Read y Review, por favor! I hope you enjoyed the beginning chapters. Again, here it goes.

                It had been truly amazing. He was quicker than anyone she had ever seen. He had gone past her in the hall and she had been practically simpering. She wondered if she could do that. On her brother's command, she had followed them up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey had clucked her tongue and stopped the bleeding in about a second. She also gave Harry a potion that she said helped steady the body and nerves after an attack by dark magic. "And this _is dark magic. Simple spell, one of the first cures I learned, but dark nonetheless." A shiver had shot down Ginny's spine. Look what it could do! She headed off to Herbology and gotten into the greenhouse just as the bell rang. Ginny had given an explanation to Professor Sprout who had given her an appraising look. _

                "Is Mr. Potter alright?" She asked breathlessly. Wasn't he always? 

                "I hope he can cope with simple dark magic if he's the supposed savior of wizard kind." Ginny had said testily, before going to sit with Colin Creepy and Jamie Black. Professor Sprout had looked slightly surprised, but Ginny refused to look at her and the woman shortly started class. 

                "Belladonna and Deadly Nightshade today, folks." She pointed to a grouping of plants. "Combined with a few simple ingredients in a potion and you've got quite a frightening effect." 

                "What is it?" Ginny had asked, on the edge on the of her seat.

                "Immediate emaciation. The person must continue eating until the potion wears off, but often they gorge themselves to death. A very mild version is put into most dietary supplements that our kind send off to Muggles." She shook her head. "Today we're going to be repotting them, as they are useful in many other potions, such as…" But Ginny had tuned her out and thought of what you could do with such a potion. She looked at Colin Creevey beside her, taking notes, tugging at his lip with his teeth. His cheeks sucked in and his skin grayed. His ribs pushed out and his stomach filled with gas. All his bones were brittle. She could snap them and set food just away from his broken body. Ginny let out a shaky sigh in admiration. She raised her hand and Professor Sprout had answered it impatiently. 

                "What is it called? The belladonna and nightshade potion." Professor Sprout blinked in slight shock. She had moved on from the potion. "Professor?"

                "Oatless. Oatless Concoction. After its creator."    

                "Oatless?" Ginny asked incredulously.

                "Yes, Ms. Weasley." Professor Sprout seemed to be becoming frustrated.

                "I don't know. I guess I was expecting something more dramatic."

                "I suppose." Professor Sprout began speaking again and Ginny's thoughts had drifted. What she could do with a potion like that. 

                She was in bed now, looking up Oatless Concoction. She set the book down, frustrated. Her sketch book was constantly on her mind, and it seemed to be constantly on Draco's because he continually was probing at it. "Haven't you figured it out by now?" She growled. 

                "You still up, Weasley?" Sandra, the only other girl in her year, mumbled sleepily. "Turn off the light." Ginny shut her book quickly and shut her eyes against the anger.

                "Fucking half-blood ordering me around…" 

                "Hmmm?" Her roommate sounded desperate to go back to sleep. "Weasley!"

                "Nothing. Nothing. Sorry." She blew out the candles next to her bed and watched as the pretty sandy-haired girl flipped over and disappeared under a pillow. Ginny clapped her hangings together and let her hair spill against a pillow. "She'll get hers. Won't she, Tom." There was no answer and for a moment Ginny sat both anticipating and fearing the voice that never laced through her head. "Won't she?"

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                Ginny tried to trail the Slytherins as best she could, to figure out the password and search for her sketchbook, but they didn't seem to go to great lengths to say the password. Finally, Malfoy caught notice of her and caught her by the arm. "I know I'm vastly appealing, Weasley. But I said no." Several people chuckled and Ginny made herself remain indifferent.

                "I know. I know. I'm sorry, Draco, you are irresistible." He smirked. "I just wanted to let you know that I agree. Hagrid is better suited for you than I am." There were more chuckles and she wrinkled her nose at him. 

                "Well Weasley, you certainly can't boast a giant dick."

                "Oh well. Neither can you." Ginny shrugged. "You set yourself up for that."

                "Indeed." He considered for a moment. "At least I didn't set myself up for failure like you did, by being born."

                "It took you awhile." Ginny yawned. "A poison arrow to my heart." She cried sarcastically. "You'll eat those words someday, Malfoy." 

                "Better than some of the things you eat, Weasley." 

                "Sticks and stones, _Draco_. Now I believe you have something of mine and I'd like it back."

                "You can't take back your virginity. It just doesn't work." Draco shrugged helplessly. 

                "You didn't take my virginity because something of yours doesn't work." Draco flushed and she smirked. Victory. "Now. My property?"

                "Until your ability to apologize begins to function, I'm afraid something else won't."

                "What, your brain?" Everyone around seemed to be enjoying this.

                "That's it. I'm sorry. No book for you." 

                "Alright. I'm sorry, Malfoy. But I challenge you to a duel." There were gasps. 

                "Weasley! Don't be stupid. He'll kill you!" Blaise Zabini cried. "Draco. Remember what happened just yesterday. Draco, please!"

                "I accept." He whipped his wand out and his mouth opened. It seemed to go in slow motion. Ginny tore her wand from her robes and managed to get out of the way of the jet blue light. It blasted away stone. Everyone backed away but stayed close enough to watch.

"Nice try." Ginny whirled around and yelled out a spell and it hit Draco in the shoulder. Everyone gasped. Draco felt heat radiating from the wound and then the spell retracted from his shoulder and back into Ginny's wand. She bit her lip and smiled contentedly. Draco's energy drained and blood from his shoulder dripped onto the stone floor. 

                "That's black magic that is." He gasped. 

                "I missed breakfast, Malfoy. I thought I'd take some energy that you seem to have from a few breakfast too many." That was a low blow.

                "I'm not fat!" He shouted, along with something that sent white light directly into Ginny's leg. She crumbled and clutched her leg. She sent something else at him. He gasped and wheezed. Someone broke off from the crowd and raced up the stairs. Draco sent a spell at Ginny. She spat blood onto the floor so she could curse him back. He clutched his eyes and sent something towards her. It rang true and she barely dodged it.

                "You trying to kill me?"

                "Only if I'm lucky." He spat, still struggling to breath. She cried out and he crumbled to the ground due to excruciating pain in his arm. She had hit him in the same shoulder wound. "Is it fair to hit a blind man?"

                "Only if you were the one to blind him. AARGH!" He put the same spell that she had previously performed on him, constricting both their breathing. They gasped and flopped around on the floor continually wounding each other back and forth, until Professors Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore skidded down the stairs to the dungeon. 

                "STOP! STOP!" McGonagall bellowed. Draco, although he couldn't see, flopped gratefully down and tried to collect his breath. Ginny stayed up, but sucked her breath through gritted teeth. 

                "What happened?" Dumbledore asked, with no small amount of contempt. No stepped up. "What happened here?" He repeated looking over the crowd, who mostly bowed their heads. 

                "They were dueling over something." Blaise said loudly, stepping out of the crowd and looked angrily at her companions. _She_ wasn't ashamed to speak out. "They're both bloody brilliant with their wands." Snape closed his eyes and shook his head. Draco fainted with a groan, his chest barely rising. 

                "Alright. Up to the hospital wing." Dumbledore said, conjuring up stretchers. Ginny pulled herself onto the stretcher with some difficulty and barely contained herself from retching right on top of the blood that was pooling on the floor. A few of the other students seemed to be feeling the same way and they moaned and turned away. The world was buzzing as Ginny was taken upstairs and deposited on a clean, starched bed. 

                "Alright then. You two are a right mess. And on the second day of school." Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "Tell me now. What spells were used exactly?" Ginny took as deep a breath as she could. 

                 "Cureless constriction curse." She managed to say. 

                "Well. That was right bright of you. That can kill you. You're just lucky that the name doesn't hold true. There is a cure. And I repeat, luckily for you." Ginny took heavy labored breaths as the spell was taken off of her and then Draco. Her head steadied and she was able to repeat the rest of the curses, jinxes, and charms to Madam Pomfrey. Finally, she rested back, healed, but exhausted. She gulped air and tried to swallow. Madam Pomfrey sat in the chair by the bed. Ginny shifted her head. "Yes?"

                "Don't use that tone with me. Can you sleep?" 

                "I'm hoarse, not impertinent. I took some of Malfoy's energy and the only thing that's happening is my total inability to sleep." Ginny took a gulp of the water that was offered, and then another. 

                "I'll give you some sleeping potion after you've had some water and Anti-Dark Matter Potion. How did you learn all that Dark Magic? I've seen grown wizards not know that. I don't suppose I would if I hadn't gone to healing school." Ginny took more water and another few breaths. 

                "It's interesting isn't it. The dark arts, I mean. You know?" She couldn't say anymore and Poppy seemed to sense it. Ginny drank the dark matter potion and then glutinous purple liquid. She fell back on her pillow and murmured for a minute before rolling over again and beginning to snore. Loud.

                Snape came up behind Madam Pomfrey and whispered. "How are our little delinquents?"

                "Severus." Madam Pomfrey patted a hand on her supple bosom. "You gave me a fright. Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley will be fine. It's fairly obvious why Mr. Malfoy would know such things, but the Weasley family is… well…"

                "Light?" Snape suggested. He didn't wait for Poppy to answer. "Professor Dumbledore wants word sent to him when the two of them wake up. I believe he'll need to question them." 

                "For a simple duel? Can't the heads of houses-?"

                "Poppy. You didn't see them. It was amazing, how quick they were, when they were still just collapsed on the floor, they were faster than a lot of students on their feet. And that was dark, dark magic. Not just your run of the mill, oops, that's just a curse my mum taught me. They would have killed each other had not one of my students come to me. They could have killed each other before then, I believe, but both were holding back. To save themselves a murder trial, I'm sure." 

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                Hours later, Ginny's eyes slitted open and a smirking Draco looked at her tiredly from his pillow. "You were brilliant." He whispered. "And you snore."

                "I know. On both counts. You weren't so bad yourself." She conceded. "I ache all over, especially in my chest."

                "You know no idea. I think my shoulder has died and gone to hell."

                "It looks to be rotting off your back. That's a good spell, yeah?" Ginny smiled proudly. 

                "Yeah. I should have used it." He said. "I wouldn't have passed out."

                "Nah, it's mostly for show. The energy itself feels too much like caffeine."

                "Speaking of which, I could go for some food." He glanced at her. "You don't really think-?"

                "That you're fat? Oh my god, Draco. No, no I don't." She snorted and yawned. Reaching over and squeezing his hand she smiled at him. "You ready to face the world for the awful deeds that we've committed?" He nodded. 

                "Madam Pomfrey!" He called out hoarsely, clearing his throat. "Food!"  She came out and looked at their hands, clasped together and breathed a sigh of… well, it could have been relief.

                "Well then. I can certainly bring you food. But then… then you have some explaining to do." She disappeared again. 

                "So…" Ginny said softly. "No hard feelings?"

                "None at all. Except for the fact that I think I'm jealous of you."

                "Don't you think that's a little much? I was striving for admiration." Ginny whispered hoarsely "Plus, I look like more of a train wreck than you do I'm sure." He chuckled and wheezed happily. 

                "Are we friends or what?" He asked. 

                "Equals. Definitely equals. But we could be friends if your cronies could swing it."

                "I have a feeling they might." Draco gave her hand a little squeeze and dropped it. 

                "And my brother?"

                "Oh, the look on his face will be enough for me. If you're going to tell him."

                "Ah. The aspect in my life in which I am totally unbrave." 

                "I can tell you are, because you're making up words."

                "Unbrave is a word." She defended. 

                "No. It's not."

                "Is too!" She said shrilly, making herself cough. "Look. I challenge you to a wizard's…"

                "No, Weasley! You'll kill your new best friend." 

                "I always was sort of a loner."

                "Not anymore." He said, with a smirk. "You've been initiated into the Slytherin circle."

                "I thought there was a hat for that." She said thoughtfully.

                "The hat puts you in the house. Shit like that makes the house worth being put into." 

                "Draco?" He didn't answer. "New best friend?" He smirked. 

                "Yeah, new best friend?"

"So, I guess the way to a Slytherin's heart is through his destruction." They both smiled and, too tired to throw pillows, simply fell back onto them and fell asleep.

                                *                                              *                                              *

                Ginny snorted and flopped off of the couch onto the floor, waking herself. She pushed herself onto an elbow groaning and looking around for a clue to her location. It slowly came back to her as she recognized faces. She was in the Slytherin common room again. She was always exhausted after detention. A pretty face pushed itself into her view, along with one that wasn't as easy on the eyes. "Pansy, Blaise." She jumped to her feet quickly. Blaise smirked, impressed. Pansy's eyes swam with anger, but her face reflected indifference. Ginny had thought looking to the eyes for emotions was the stuff of romance novels, until she experienced the cold expressions of the practiced Slytherins. She tried her best to mirror it at all times. Her position was now one that was respected but she remained friendly, so gradually they opened up to her. She enjoyed their company. They were blunt with her, but they knew her power, so they were never rude. The ability to control such things was intoxicating. 

                Ron had been angry of course, when she had been given a year's worth of detention. He hadn't been all that angry after all though, she had kicked Draco Malfoy's ass. A month later, he still hadn't noticed that she spent most of her nights away from Gryffindor tower. She spent them on the couch of Slytherin house. Blaise had instructed Millicent Bulstrode to give Ginny her bed, but Ginny had refused. "And Blaise." She had drawled. "I'll give the instructions around here as that pertains to me." Blaise's chin had gone in the air and her hand had gone casually for her robes. Ginny didn't make a move. She knew that if Blaise was as stupid as to try anything, she would have her wand out and Blaise on the floor. Blaise seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Her arms dropped to her sides and she bowed slightly. 

                "Yes, Ginny." Ginny had shivered with the power of those words. She had let Blaise go, and seen Snape looking at her thoughtfully, before disappearing into his quarters. He was the only head of house connected to the dorms. That had worried her at first.

                Snape, like many of the Slytherins, had remained neutral on her sudden initiation into the Slytherin house. He woke her up some mornings when Draco or Blaise were having a lie-in, and reminded her to be watchful of heavy sleep. There was nothing out of the ordinary in class, except he stopped talking to her. She was fully glad of this. And she began to realize he had a begrudging respect for her. She hadn't realized that she had been that great until she saw people's reactions. Then, she went in feet first. There was no time to doubt herself, or she might lose some of the hard earned respect of this cool race. And they did almost seem to be a completely different race. 

                "Time to get up already?" She stretched her arms above her head and yawned. 

                "No. You've only been asleep an hour. It's Severus. He wants to talk to you." Pansy said in measured tones. Draco looked up, surprised, from his homework. Pansy, stupidly, usually showed contempt in her voice, which was unwise in front of Ginny, who would lash out. 

                "Fine. I appreciate that you didn't wake me up." She touched her wand to make sure it wasn't missing from her robes. They both lowered their heads respectfully and moved away. Ginny sat down next to Draco. "Was it just me or has Pansy finally learned her lesson?"

                "I don't know what's up with those two. Blaise is still leader, but you've gotten some kind of approval." Draco shrugged. He had NEWTS this year and so he had tons more homework. She usually finished hers up in detention. "You know what? Death eater society reminds me of a wolf pack."

                "Oh yeah? Well, I guess I'm moving in for the kill." Draco smiled weakly. "Seriously though, I don't see students bowing for Blaise and such."

                "Blaise would make a mean politician. You'll never be able to lead crowds like she does. Keep her close. But you have something that women don't always have in this pack. You don't sleep around for one, which many of the older girls do. Also, you have power. Blaise is like the snake, you know, the serpent of Adam and Eve. She could make anyone take that apple, but she couldn't beat you in a duel. I don't know if anyone could." 

                "The Dark Lord could." Draco shrugged. 

                "I say this in the strictest of confidence because you know as well as I that we don't speak ill of anyone above us, but the Dark Lord isn't that good at dueling. My father could beat him at a duel, but he would rather be in the Dark Lord's favor than proved above him. To be a leader you need followers. And if you're a fairly good follower you get closer to the leader. My father knows that." 

                "I wish I could duel your father." Ginny said wistfully.

                "He's in jail. Otherwise I'm sure he'd be more than glad to oblige you." 

                "I know that. Remember, I had a bit of a hand in it." Draco's jaw tightened at her words.

                "I know you did." 

                "Oh don't be angry, everyone has their facades. I was impressed by what they did. Very impressed. I wanted to be just like them all. Really. I didn't even like Sirius that much." A hand clapped onto her shoulder and she looked up into two cold black eyes. "Professor Snape. I was just about to come see you." She glanced at Draco and stood up. 

                "I have to finish tonight's homework. See you around, Gin." She waved vaguely and followed Snape to his office. 

                "So?" She sat in his chair before he could, and propped her feet onto his desk. 

                "I think you had better go to your own dorm tonight." They stared at each other for a long time, and Ginny found that she couldn't probe into his mind and had a feeling that he couldn't either. 

                "Alright. I've missed a bed." 

                "You could've had one." Snape said slowly. 

                "The Dark Lord does things one way, I do things another."

                "Why-?"

                "You seem to be comparing us, Severus. Let me tell you that despite what it may seem the younger generation is a little tamer. A little girl comes to me for help on her homework. Who do you think she will stand by when the time comes. Someone who scares the wits out of her, or someone she can rely on? I know that the Dark Lord seeks a queen. We would make a good pair." 

                "Why do you think that?"

                "The Dark Lord is a good leader, but he needs a good cop." Seeing the confused look on his face, she further explained. "You see. There's something that Muggle police do, called good cop bad cop when they want a confession. The bad cop comes in throwing things, yelling in peoples face. Or the Dark Lord, performs Cruciatus on them. And they'll talk. But it will be out of fear. The bad cop gives 'em a scare and the good cop comes in. You tell 'em, don't want that to happen again, I don't want him to come in again, but I need you to tell me this. They don't want him to come again either. And so they tell the good cop. The Dark Lord scares the shit out of people, no denying it. And it works. You can't deny that either. But there isn't anything alluring or seductive about the Dark Lord's method. I'm powerful. And people will come to me. They will!" She cried indignantly at the look on his face. "You fear me, but you'll still talk to me person to person without licking my robes."

                "Why should I fear you? Perhaps I could beat you in a duel."

                "Perhaps. But I know that you're a double agent. That could hurt you."

                "You…" He glared at her and then seemed to be confused. "You haven't told yet."

                "I like you Severus, but I have something to hold over your head when someone says that I've been in the Slytherin common room. Or when good ol' Dumbledore inquires as to something." 

                " The Dark Lord may be watching through your eyes." He accused. 

                "I think he sees some things. But some of it is the stuff of dreams. When I let my guard down. And since we're not kissing and I'm not particularly upset my mind is guarded." 

                "But if he looks into your mind."

                "Then he'll see what I want him to see. Look, your secret is safe with me unless you fuck up."

                "What if you become queen?" 

                "Severus, never underestimate the power of blackmail and suggestion. An informant is a challenge. It'd make things too easy to just wipe you out. I want to get respect the way I have so far, not by being a little Peter Pettigrew and running off… I'm not going to win any favors by weaseling someone out of a very good position for me. I may be power-hungry. But I'm not stupid." 

                "No you're not."

                "You're damn right I'm not. Now I'm going to take your advice and go to bed. But one little slip of the tongue and that's it. _Professor._" She bowed as people bowed to her and left, stealing quietly and quickly through shadows until she reached the portrait hole and slipped inside. She groaned, the tremendous trio was at it again. 

                "Ginny! What are you doing out of bed?" Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled. "I should take points away, but it's only eleven thirty, so I'll let it go this time. This time." She warned. Ginny sat down next to her and watched Hermione knit. "How was detention with Monsignor Malfoy?"

                "Fine. I suppose. We don't really talk that much. I'm in the best damn shape I've ever been in my entire life, though."

                "What were you doing out in the corridors?" Ginny gave Harry a long look. He was tired and he thought Hermione looked pretty with her hair up. He scolded himself for thinking so. 

                "None of your business. Hermione, you just look beautiful with your hair up."

                "Why, thank you." 

                "I think so, too." Ron leaned over and kissed her. Ginny raised her eyebrows. Okay, when had this happened? "Gods Ginny, you should see the look on your face." He went back to his essay. 

                "You tired of studying yet, Hermione?" Ginny asked. 

                "Yep. I was tired of it a long time ago. They should have worked us harder in 6th year, I almost forgot what exam time was like."

                "I beg to differ." Harry said quietly. He was looking at Ginny however. "So remind me again why you have to have detention with Malfoy."

                "Because I plowed him in a duel."

                "Malfoy?"

                "How many times, Harry? Yes." She shrugged, staving off frustration. "Every night the same question."

                "I've gotten into duels before and I haven't gotten a year."

                "Well, you're Harry Potter. Aren't you?" It felt good to let emotion into her voice, so she let the disdain flow. "It's not that hard, Harry."

                "One of the girls watching told me you used dark magic." 

                "One generally does that when dueling a death eater."      

                "She said you initiated it."

                "Five times a day, Harry. I think you can repeat the answer for yourself."

                "But I don't believe your answer." 

                "Harry. Calm down. Think what you're accusing her of before you do it." Hermione said soothingly. "You must be tired, Gin girl. Maybe you want to rest."

                "Maybe I do want to go to sleep." Ginny glared at Harry. "Get away from all this…" She swept Harry's papers off of the table. He stood up, and Ginny couldn't believe what she was doing. "I guess I get tired and it makes me a little irritated at the constant accusations of being a dark witch!" She was circling and she pushed over a chair. Hermione and Ron were watching a little fearfully. 

                "I get a little tired of being lied to, myself. Maybe I should sleep." Harry mirrored her behavior. Ginny slightly dodged the chair. 

                "Sure Harry. You look a little peakish. You should just forget about homework until tomorrow." She pointed her wand at it, and the sheer force lit the parchment on fire. Harry dove for his precious homework. Hermione put it out and repaired the damage, as Ginny had known she would know how to do. 

                "Ginny. That's a little far." She said quietly. "You've proved your point. And Harry, it was a good one. I don't know what's started with you two. But I want it to end. I've barely seen you, Ginny, and every time I do, Harry, you've interrogated her. Ginny screwed up. But everyday she sacrifices her evening free time and runs five times around the lake and does three hours of studying. The fight is outside this circle, not within it. I thought by now you would've learned that by now." Ginny felt like a kicked puppy. She didn't care what anyone said, McGonagall didn't have anything on Hermione.  "So…"

                "Sorry, Gin." Harry said grudgingly. 

                "Apology accepted." Ginny said loftily. There was a pause. 

                "Ginny." Ron said testily. 

                "Alright. I'm sorry Lord Potter."

                "Ginny. Harry's apologized." Ron explained calmly.

                "Well that was very big of him."  Ginny said sarcastically. "Good thing he meant it and all or else I wouldn't want to apologize."

                "I'm sorry. It's just that with the war going on and everything…" Harry trailed off at the look she gave him. "I was being a prat. I'm sorry, I just wish you would tell me what happened." 

                "Maybe I will." She said quietly. Hermione chose to ignore the fact that Ginny still wasn't apologizing and clapped her hands together. 

                "You do that. Ron and I will just head to bed." She followed Ron up the boy's staircase. 

                "Uh…" Ginny said. "Wrong staircase."

                "She has to get Crookshanks." Harry righted a chair and sat across from her. Hermione appeared a moment later with a blush and a cat and scurried back up the girl's staircase. "Almost midnight."

                "Uh-huh." Ginny said. "So what did you want to know?"

                "Where did you learn all that dark magic?"

                "Oh come on, Harry. You've seen what it does." 

                "Yeah I have. It killed my parents."

                "Regardless." She held up a hand before he could tell her exactly he felt about disregarding his parents' death. "This war is about power. About good over evil. Dark magic is power. You think the worst that the Dark Lord has to offer is-"

                "What did you call him?" Harry's eyes narrowed. 

                "A safe alternative to both you-know-who and his real name. Why?"

                "I've only heard death eaters call him that."

                "Surely not. And if that's all the proof you have well, I know about a hundred death eaters including Dumbledore who need to be brought in. Will you let me finish?"

                "Sure." Harry gestured in resignation. 

                "Do you think that the worst the _Dark Lord_ has to offer is a jelly legs jinx? You have to fight fire with fire in this case."

                "Doesn't that make more fire?"

                "It takes fuel away from the other fire. In learning dark magic I've learned to defend myself against enemies in an enemy's defense. A UN Ambassador with an AK-47 is better off than a UN Ambassador with a peacekeeping badge when the bad guys all have AK-47s."

                "I don't think I understood that analogy." Harry said helplessly. 

                "Never mind." Ginny brushed it away. "I wouldn't have gotten anywhere in that duel unless I knew the same spells Draco had. Remember in my fourth year, you thought it was ridiculous that you weren't learning any spells in DADA? Well I think it's ridiculous that people aren't being taught the Dark Arts in a time when Dark Arts are a major threat."

                "So, if you're about to be hit with a giant flood, you think you should send a giant flood back? People still drown, Ginny."

                " You've gotten the point pretty well, Mr. Potter. But imagine what would happen if our side met that giant flood toting only straws. I can guarantee you a helluva lot more people would drown and the bad guys would have climbed to safety. Think about it." The portrait hole suddenly burst open and Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore. They took one look at her and relaxed.

                "When did you get here, Ms. Weasley?" McGonagall asked. 

                "Just after detention. I've been hanging out with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. The others have gone to bed, but Harry and I are discussing tactical strategy."

                "Very good. Is this true, Harry?" Dumbledore asked. Harry looked at Ginny and nodded. Ginny then made the mistake of looking into his eyes. She bent under the pressure of keeping him from her mind. Finally something broke before she could manage to look away, but something trickled in as well. "I'll see you in my office tomorrow, Ms. Weasley." 

                "Something to look forward to, Dumbledore." 

                "Professor Dumbledore." McGonagall corrected. 

                "Oh yeah. Sometimes I forget." Ginny stood up and started for the door. 

                "Do you know the time for our meeting?" Dumbledore said softly. 

                "7 am. You've already said." 

                "I thought so." He said in the same soft voice.  "I want to hear no more reports of you in common rooms not your own."

                "You shouldn't have  in the first place."

                "I think I understand that." They left quietly. Harry looked at Ginny and back at the portrait hole as though he were watching a highly interesting tennis match. 

                "Whose common room were you in?" 

                "Hufflepuff." She said casually sitting on the arm of Harry's chair. She watched his adam's apple go up and down. 

                "Why shouldn't he have heard?" 

                "Cause he just thinks I was in there. I wasn't really." She said softly. "Silly Dumbledore. He should keep his mind on the war. I'm starting to think the other side would win if it wasn't for… well…" She ran a finger down his arm, he made an atypical hormonal turnaround, smiling. She leaned in close to his ear. "You." 

                "I'm not that great." He said modestly. 

                "Oh please, Harry. Not that great." She giggled. "Sure you are. You know, I've always really liked you." She leaned forward and kissed him shyly, not deepening it at all. He pushed her away. 

                "Ginny. You know there's Luna."

                "Oh, Harry." She made her lip tremble and then put a hand on top as if to stop it. "I've forgotten. I feel awful." She put her hands over her face. 

                "It's okay, Ginny. I know you're stressed out over detention and all that." 

                "Yes. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Harry." She let a single tear go before starting up the stairs of her dormitory. She swore. None of her stuff was really up here. Her clothes were of course, but not her toothbrush and such. She had forgotten about Luna and Harry's damn morals. She was still swearing when she changed into a spare nightgown and went into the bathroom. She took her hair down and shook her head at her reflection. It really was a shame. Harry Potter would have been a useful tool to ensnare.  


	5. The Apple

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related content does not belong to me. No infringement is intended on my part. So don't sue me please. 

A/N I enjoy reviews so feel free to let me enjoy myself. That said, let's start this chapter.

                Oh yeah, and the last chapter had no other point other than to show that Ginny is finally on the up and up with Slytherins and she's starting to get well deserved power. Okay really, let's get this chapter started. Chapter 4 of In Passion, In Death. Right here folks. 

                "Blaise. If you don't want to then don't. It's not that hard." Ginny shook her head. 

                "You didn't grow up as a female death eater, or at least a future female death eater, anyway, that's not the point, things are different for us. We participate in attacks, sure, but everyone knows that a female's place is in the bed. It's frustrating when you're trying to rise in the ranks. Especially with someone like you around. You don't seem to understand all these rules and so they don't apply to you. I never had that luxury." Blaise said grumpily, but still watching her tongue. 

                "Stick by me, Zabini, and I'll try my best to make things easier for you. Leaders need followers and I'm going to need support to grant wishes of the women. You know, though, before this year, I didn't exactly know that He was looking for a queen. And when I did find out, I thought it was be Bellatrix Lestrange." She said confidentially. 

                "Lestrange is exactly suited for what women are supposed to be." Blaise said contemptuously. "Anyway, she has a husband. Not that that stops her." 

                "Watch it. She's higher than you. At this point she's higher than me. I'm not even a death eater." 

                "So you really want to be a death eater? I figured at first this was some act, but I'm not as sure anymore." Blaise tapped a finger against her lip. 

                "Why are you confiding in me if you're not sure? Not a wise decision. But even so, I'm very serious. I didn't realize it until recently, but it's what I really want. He waited for me." She paused before she said in this moment of relaxation something that was a secret. The fact that she intoxicated him as much as he to her. That she had power that she still wasn't sure was only just a dream. She toured headquarters with him every night, before he swirled into Tom and they performed acts that would make a seasoned prostitute or a long time sailor blush. And sometimes she would wake and sometimes she wouldn't. They would talk. She figured she knew more about the attacks than anyone at this point. She would make a brilliant double agent. But she didn't want to be a double agent, unless she was whispering in to Tom's ear, a bizarre sort of pillow talk. 

                "You're so lucky…" Blaise suddenly glanced at her watch. "Whoa, you have to meet with Dumbledore in like three minutes. Better haul some serious ass." Ginny finished her coffee and made to leave. Blaise grabbed her arm and tossed her lovely head. "Hey, thanks. You, you'd do better than Bella Lestrange. Hell, you might even do better than I would. Even I though I doubt it." They were big words. Ginny smiled lightly. 

                "Thanks." She reached to Blaise's hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze before breaking free and running up the hallways. She let herself onto Dumbledore's stairway and began the climb. Her biggest victory yet. Blaise. 

                "Do you know why I brought you here?" Ginny didn't look into Dumbledore's eyes, looking everywhere but. 

                "I have an idea."

                "Do share."

                "My time allegedly spent in the Slytherin common room." 

                "How did you get into my office?"

                "You told me." She realized this was the wrong answer as he got up and placed two fingers under her chin. "I guessed it more like, you just told me that you only use candy."

                "Did I now?" His fingers were cool as they applied pressure. She lifted her head and looked over her shoulder. "Look at me please, Ginny." She looked at his forehead. "Ginny. You say yourself you have nothing to hide. Even so, what can meeting my eyes do?"

                "Ha! If an idiot like me can get into someone's mind an idiot like you can." There was an amused chuckle at her words. She built up all her concentration and met his clear blue eyes. It was like trying to push a door closed in a red room against a raging bull. She had to physically push her face away when she felt her will bending. "I'm stronger than you think." She kept tears from her voice. He moved away and she looked up to watch him. He glanced towards her and she looked down again. He approached her again and pushed the knobby fingers under her chin applying more pressure. She closed her eyes when her head lifted involuntarily. 

                "Ginny." His voice had taken on a different tone. "Open your eyes." It was impossible to resist. Her eyes slid open and she saw the blue surface of his before she fell into them. She pushed, hard, but he was in and strolling around. Harry had told her once about Snape saying that the mind couldn't be read like a book. Maybe it couldn't. It was like reading a book in a foreign language. You saw pictures, but you couldn't read the stories. She realized suddenly that pictures were all it took. Her friendship with Draco was proof of that. She withdrew quickly and managed to look away. 

                Tears began to leak from the corner of her eyes. "Go away," She choked. "Leave my mind alone. You don't belong there." There was a sigh and he was gone again. She could hear him pacing and there was a noise that could only indicate he had slammed his fist into the desk. 

                "You were lying last night. I know that much. Harry is easy to tell. You are not so much."

                "Amazing, a commoner doing something the boy who lived can't. Bet Moody failed to mention I can throw off the Imperius and that I almost beat him in a duel after school."

                "It  wasn't Moody."

                "But it was a prized death eater. Harry couldn't have done that."

                "Harry beat Voldemort."

                "He didn't beat him. He participated. No one won that duel."

                "Harry wouldn't begrudge you being a better dueler." 

                "Are you so sure?" She said softly. "Have you seen him when someone bests him? Harry wears his heart on his sleeves, a foolish place to wear something like that." 

                "Where do you wear your heart?"

                "I don't use my heart. I use my head." That was lie. She couldn't do that no matter how hard she tried. Dumbledore seemed to accept it though.     

                "What would you have done if you had lost your parents? Or the closest thing you have to them?" 

                "I don't know. But if I had reacted as Harry had, Bellatrix Lestrange would be next to Frank and Alice Longbottom at St. Mungos, passing out bubble gum wrappers." She looked up at Dumbledore who looked disgusted. She looked away before their eyes locked. 

                "What exactly are you admitting to?" His voice was calm, but she could hear anger underneath it. She was still crying and she didn't know why.  

                "Nothing." The word was short and whispered, but it was packed with raw emotion.

                "Ginny. Before you decide to pursue something I would remind you of several things. The first is your family and friends and their reaction to any bad choices you may make. The second is relationships with people that dark groups stand against."

                "And the third?" She wiped away tears. 

                "Third." He seemed to consider a moment before speaking. "Our side are full of very bad enemies to have. I am a bad enemy to have." There was no threat, only implication.

                "You're not my enemy." She stood, still crying. 

                "No?" He whispered. She finally looked into his eyes and let the tears push him back. She made to leave and looked back only once to speak before going through the door and closing it. 

                "I'm still your student."

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                "Who are you?" Pansy swayed to the pounding music. She was dressed as a cat. She looked pretty. Ginny had told her so and Pansy had granted her a rare smile. Ginny was buttering her up shamelessly. 

                "Don't you recognize Harpo Marx?" She honked her cane at Pansy and pulled a face. 

                "I remember those from when I was a kid!" She pointed at Ginny. "That was the one that didn't talk. He played the harp, right?" Crabbe came to ask her to dance and she accepted. Ginny waved and picked up a butterbeer. She flipped the top off and sat down on a table, jangling her foot to the music. It was the Weird Sisters. She wasn't extraordinarily fond of their music, but it wasn't bad, really. Goyle stood in front of her, shuffling his feet. 

                "Hey, Ginny…" He mumbled. 

                "Why Gregory? Are you blushing?" He cleared his throat. "Would you like to dance?" He nodded. She looked into his eyes and saw a single image locked into his mind. Crabbe placing a chaste kiss on his forehead. She grinned and let him lead her onto the dance floor. The dancing was a little awkward. Wizards didn't have a particularly hip way of dancing. So they waltzed, box stepped, and fox trotted their way through even punk music. Goyle had to remind her not to lead and she had to dance a little oddly to keep his feet away from hers. "So."

                "So." He repeated. "How do you like the Slytherin O Hallows Eve party?"

                "I like it. Now that I know it exists and all." Draco had told her about it only a few days ago, forcing her to throw together an odd costume. Harpo Marx was the result. Everybody headed straight to bed after the dance. Sandra had a boyfriend in Ravenclaw, so she usually didn't notice that Ginny was gone. 

                She was surprised at first. She had thought the Slytherins would constantly sit around making evil plans and torturing lesser beings. On the contrary, they all seemed to be lovers of music and cards. She could hardly count the evenings she had played bridge, spades, blackjack and poker eventually getting up to be whirled around the common room by various boys of various ages. She would help the smaller ones with their homework and was surprised that everyone took care of each other. It was good to be in with the Slytherins, and it was miserable to be out. They were much like a rich family, with strict rules that were mostly ignored for the pleasure of acting young. Draco had told her it was much the same at headquarters. With seriousness only before in the meetings. There were good times to be had with the future death eaters, while everyone else felt guilty about sleeping deeply and worried constantly. Ginny basked in it. 

                "Hey. Can I have this dance?" Ginny let Millicent Bulstrode take Goyle away, and watched his eyes flash to Crabbe, still dancing with Pansy. She turned around and walked straight into Draco. He smiled at her and let her lead. They bumped into a few fumbling first years. 

                "So." He drawled. 

                "Déjà vu." She said slowly. "I like your costume." It was the same robes that he had been wearing at the feast. 

                "I'm a homicidal maniac. They look like everyone else." He explained saucily. "Now, I really do like your costume. Are you a bum?"

                "How dare you! I'm Harpo Marx."

                "Oh, a Muggle." He said dryly.

                "Oh, a homicidal maniac." She imitated perfectly. "How perfectly unoriginal." 

                "I used to have sleep-overs with Pansy Parkinson, Blaise and Greg. We would watch the Marx brothers." He said as he and Ginny moved together as a slow song started. "Duck soup was my favorite." 

                "I like Monkey Business. Zeppo was my favorite. I didn't know if I could pull off the tux, though." She laughed at the look on his face. 

                "I liked Harpo. I recognized you." 

                "It's funny. Don't sound like you're confessing to a murder."      

                "I am after all a homicidal maniac." She laughed and they danced together until Snape broke up the party at midnight. She changed into boxers and T-shirt and climbed to the very top of the stairs to Draco's room. The 7th year boys were having a jolly time with a wrestling match. They had thrown all their pillows on the floor and were tussling about. 

                "Can I join in?" She asked, skipping around the pillows to sit beside Draco on his bed. 

                "As long as we aren't dueling." He said loudly and Morag MacDougal laughed. Crabbe won against Goyle. Both boys blushed and climbed off one another. Ginny elbowed Draco and raised her eyebrows. He rolled his eyes. She jumped onto the pillows. 

                "Come on, Malfoy. Bring it!" He climbed lightly off his bed and watched her with crossed arms. She danced over the unsteady, squashy surface. "Are you afraid of me?"

                "Yes." He drawled. She grabbed onto his arm and tried to trip him. He dove into her stomach and she landed on the pillows hard. She flipped him over, but he jumped on her again, surprised when she managed to flip him over again. 

                "You forget I have six brothers." She said as Morag MacDougal counted. She had almost won, when Draco got purchase on the pillows and had knocked her away, sending her skidding on a pillow. She pursed her lips and dove onto his back. His elbow got her in the eye and it watered. But she won. 

                "Oh, Gin!" He slapped a hand over his mouth and reached out to brush his fingertips over the bump already swelling around her eye. 

                "I'm fine. I'm fine." She said through her laughter. "I so just kicked your ass."

                "You always best me." He looked amused, but a little worried. She didn't like the other emotion she saw on his face. The others saw it too. 

                "I'll go get ice." Greg mumbled. 

                "Oh yeah, me too." Vince slipped out of the door. Morag began to pick up pillows, tossing them randomly on beds. 

                "Bathroom." He said gruffly. Ginny looked around and looked back up at Draco, whose eyes had never left her. They stood barely a foot apart, arms dangling at their sides. She looked into his eyes, but didn't venture into his mind, fearing she would never be able to leave their depths. 

                "Everybody left." She said stupidly. Draco nodded and reached up to brush her eye, turning his hand slightly to run the smooth back over her cheek. Her breath picked up a little, and tears filled them that had nothing to do with her smarting eye. She wanted this, and she knew she shouldn't. She sniffed a little and hated herself for acting like this. She was supposed to be above all this emotion, but she couldn't help it. She needed to vent some way. Ginny had thought she had everything worked out; all her plans had been perfection. And then along came Draco, not from no where, her sketchbooks were proof of that, but unexpected. The heat rose in her cheeks and she looked away. "I was thinking I should go to my rooms…" She turned to go and was unsurprised when his arm caught hers. 

                "Ginny." He whispered. And she heard so many things in her name, in that one word, that she relented and pressed her lips to his.

                It felt right at the same time she knew it was wrong. She couldn't tell, with her eyes closed, whether or not his lips were thick or thin, she hadn't ever thought to look, but they were swallowing her up. His tongue was cooler than her own, unfamiliar, but welcome in her mouth. She had kissed plenty of boys, mostly just in fun and teasing, but the sheer emotion she felt for Draco finally placed itself in this kiss. She had found a label for the feeling she felt every time he was near. Ginny was in love with someone other than the Dark Lord. Damn it. 

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                "I'm sworn to the Dark Lord." She said softly. Pressed to his chest. "Your roommates. They could use this against me. But hell, I don't even know if he really wants me for his queen."

                "That's not true. You and I both know that if it's anyone of us, it's you. Everyone knows that." Draco whispered. "I'm sworn to the Dark Lord, as well, but I don't want to think about it. I'm not supposed to feel emotion, Ginny. I thought I was pretty much all trained-up. But you… you make me feel."

                "I know. I know." She murmured. "I don't want to think either." 

                "Then don't." He kissed her again and slowly walked her back until they sprawled across his bed. He lifted himself for a moment and looked at her, sprawled over his pillows. He went to her lips and she felt his brush gently against her skin, pushing slowly under her T-shirt. It took all her effort to stop him. "Why?" He whispered, hazily complying. "Don't you want me?" He sounded a little cocky. She swallowed at the pun and composed herself a moment. 

                "I can't think with you straddling me like that." She pushed onto his chest. 

                "Funny that." 

                "Draco, please." She begged. "I- I can't." He climbed off of her and she sat up, pushing a hand against her chest to feel her heart beating a tattoo against her ribcage. 

                "Why? Please, Ginny, don't reject me." He whispered, sounding so earnest that she was for a moment taken aback. 

                "I'm not rejecting you." She said. "But I want to think about this before I just jump into it. And if I stay any longer in a position like the one you had me in, I think I would have slept with you."

                "And that's a bad thing?" Draco's face pulled up a look of aloof indifference. She growled with frustration, the look dropped off his face and he reached for her again. She pushed him away. 

                "Yes. That's a bad thing. I want you, but you can have almost any girl you want." 

                "I want you, especially." He said helpfully. 

                "Those other girls, they don't always have the option of saying no."

                "You're doing this to set yourself apart from the Slytherin girls?"

                "No! I'm doing this to make sure this is something other than just lust and silliness. I want to uphold the option I have of saying no with you. And I don't want my first time to be with my eye like this." This made him laugh. He kissed her again, softly on the lips. She looked to them when he broke it. They were supple, but not thick. 

                "It'll be your first?" Draco asked incredulously. 

                "Not everybody follows under the Death Eater's Code of Intimacy." She said grumpily. 

                "You're just so beautiful and powerful and…" He made to show her and she climbed off the bed. 

                "Walk me to my rooms, Draco." She said with a note of finality. He complied and they walked quietly down the stairs. Ginny stopped Draco at the bottom and motioned to where a surprised Gregory Goyle was being kissed by and kissing Vincent Crabbe with a baggie of ice in his hand. Draco was caught somewhere between disgust and interest. Ginny could tell by his face. She motioned for him to walk up the stairs and then started down them loudly. They met Vince and Greg at the bottom. Greg was blushing furiously. 

                "Ice." She took the bag he handed her and pushed past them both to the room. Vince wished them good night and followed him. They started into the halls and Ginny giggled furiously. 

                "You should have seen the look on your face." 

                "You should have seen yours."

                "What was it?" She asked. 

                "Like you had just seen a baby or puppy." He said with no small amount of disgust. 

                "Oh please. I know for a fact that you don't care about homosexuality. That seems to be the only minority that Death Eaters tolerate." She put a finger to her chin. "That sounds like a deep, dark secret just waiting to jump out."

                "Doesn't it, though?" He said cheerily. "Well, if the Dark Lord's gay, it's no wonder he would pick you for his queen." 

                "Why you bloody-!" She cried.

                "Oh, stop. You'll make me blush."  He leaned forward and kissed her. "I must be gay, too." He said against her lips. 

                "I think you must be getting soft." She whispered back. "I wonder what that's all about."

                "Must be what's left of the good ol' Gryffindor persuasion in you." 

                "Glad to see it's having an influence on you." They kissed again, and Ginny was able to push any negative thoughts back into her mind. She thought back to something that the twins, George probably, had told was their philosophy of life their mother once that made her sigh in exasperation. If it feels good, do it. Draco walked her to the end of the dungeons. She made it back up to Gryffindor tower with little trouble. She really did miss her bed most of the time. But sometimes her urge to stay in the Slytherin common room forced her onto the god awful sofa. More often than not the Slytherin urges won over the need for a comfortable bed. Ginny climbed into the portrait hole and laughed. 

                "When do you three sleep? I swear, you can't have any more homework than the next 7th year." Ginny said with laughter in her voice as her brother and his two best friends looked up at her, surprised. 

                "Ginny, what happened to your eye? Where are you always off to that you come home so late? Honestly, it's almost one." Ron said unhappily, checking his watch. 

                "How long have you guys been in here?" Ginny asked evasively, picking up one of Ron's books. 

                "Since we got back from the feast." Hermione said.

                "I went down to the kitchens. I must've slipped through in the crowds." Ginny rubbed her stomach. "I'm such a psycho about food. I think I must get that from my father. Ronnie's got that too."

                "Yeah." Said Hermione slowly. "Listen. Ginny, there were no crowds after the feast. It was empty within ten minutes. We were doing something and all of us have a big assignment due tomorrow. We have a theory, though, Ginny." Ginny's throat tightened. "Tell me if we're wrong."

                "You're wrong." She joked, trying to clear her throat. 

                "Gin. Please, just listen to Hermione." Harry said in a choked voice.

                "Are you seeing Draco Malfoy? Is that where you're learning all that dark magic?" 

                "No." Ginny laughed trying to make herself relax and save her ass. "That's your theory. Come on. You guys…" hit the nail exactly on the head, "couldn't be more off." Hermione visibly relaxed. 

                "Well good. We were getting worried." They all smiled at each other. 

                "You want to know what I've been doing?" Ginny smiled for a minute as they nodded. "I've uh… I've been… been… been… BEEN BEING TUTORED IN POTIONS!" 

                "By who?" Hermione asked. "Why so late?" Ginny cursed Hermione for making her elaborate. 

                "By Snape. And you know, with detention , I only have so much time to have that sort of help."       

                "Why can't he do that when he's supervising your detention?

                "Hermione. We're supposed to be silent."

                "Alright. But I dunno, Gin. Keeping you until 1 am. It doesn't seem entirely appropriate." 

                "So now you think I'm shagging Severus Snape? That's even less likely than Draco Malfoy." She hoped not or she'd be in the sack with Snape in no time. The idea made her shudder. 

                "But Ginny. Haven't you made friends with Draco Malfoy, just a little bit, just a touch? You've been in detention with him excepting weekends and holidays, every day. You're sure?" 

                "Positive." Ginny tried to sound exasperated, but her voice squeaked.

                "You said you were the highest in your year in potions!" Harry cried suddenly. "Just last week. You said…" Ron and Hermione looked back to Harry and then at Ginny. 

                "You did say that!" Ron said slowly. "Why would you need to tutor if you were at the top of your year?" Ginny shook her head at such silliness and started to walk away. "Your roommate. She said you haven't spent the night in your room but once or twice." That two faced little… Ginny calmed slightly. She had never asked Sandra to do anything, or not tell anyone. She ignored them and started up the stairs. Her brother ran after her and grabbed onto her hand as the stairs transitioned easily into stairs. 

                "What do you want?" She said indifferently from the carpet as Ron got to his feet and brushed himself off. It was easy practicing total lack of emotion on Harry, Hermione, and Ron because they didn't expect her to and they didn't laugh when she got frustrated and showed it.

                "I want you to tell me the truth." He offered her his hand. She didn't take it. 

                "I'm tired of these constant confrontations." She propped her arms behind her head. "What business of it is yours? If you wanted to see more of me, you'd make an effort to. This is all a huge control issue for you." 

                "Don't try and act like a shrink. I care because I'm your brother and…"

                "Ron, none of our other brothers did this. Even Fred, George or Percy when we were all simultaneously at Hogwarts. They never threw things when I got a new boyfriend or wanted to know where I was going every time I shifted my weight. They didn't watch my weight and they certainly didn't blather on about me being a dark witch, because they know better.  There you are. All out of excuses. Ron, I love you. Sometimes you're my favorite brother. This is not one of those times. Let it go." She sat up. 

                "Ginny. Now you see here!" He stomped his foot. "You… you…"

                "You're absolutely right." Hermione came up behind Ron and grabbed on his arm, stroking it lightly. Ron shot Hermione a grateful, but confused look. "Go on up to bed, Ginny."

                "I don't like your holier than thou tone, Hermione. I don't have to if I don't want to."

                "You sound like a child, Ginny. Please? Just go to bed." 

                "I want you guys to promise me you'll leave me alone about this. I'm 16."

                "Sure, sure. And just to set Ron's mind at ease we'll go to Dumbledore and ask him to schedule you tutoring appointments earlier. I'm sure he won't have a problem with that." Ginny managed to keep her face indifferent. Always indifferent, she reminded herself. 

                "I'm sure he won't." The stairs had returned to their original state so Ginny did indeed go to bed. Hermione waited for her door to close. 

                "Well, that's it then. You'll have to trail her, Harry."

                "Me? Why, me? This is all Ron's affair." Harry said indignantly. 

                "Because you fit best under the invisibility cloak, and because you won't have your head chopped off if you miss a day of classes." 

                "You wouldn't either."

                "Yes, well, I'm head girl." Harry cursed under his breath.

                "Fine. You really want me to follow her to her classes? Never mind. Fine. Fine."

                "Good." Hermione looked satisfied.

                "But you owe me." Harry warned her.

                "Naturally." She sighed. "Do it tomorrow. And be nice to her, all of you, but not too nice or inquisitive. Alright?" When everyone complied she gathered her things, kissed Ron, and went to bed. She passed Ginny's door on her way to the top, where Ginny quietly dreamed of Tom, guiltily thinking of Draco's lips and Draco's hands as she was swallowed up in satin sheets. 

                                                *                                              *                                              *                                                              Dumbledore stroked his beard, pensive. A matter had sprung to his attention that was made him curse himself for not realizing before. Like Ron Weasley had come to him complaining of violent memories that had nothing to do with his own past, coming from a brain that attacked him in his fifth year, of course Ginny Weasley would have more of Lord Voldemort running through her veins than even, perhaps, Harry Potter. It had begun at the beginning of this year. At the beginning of her entrance into Hogwarts, if he was honest with himself. Possessed at such a young age, and seemingly innocent. He had noticed that Tom had amazingly passed over some of the capabilities of his complex mind. She had been hysterical, but had admitted to him later that she had lost a dear friend in Tom. 

                This was not the usual psychology of someone who has been possessed. They were angry at the attacker, and anxious over the safety of their mind. Unusual dreams could drive them to hysteria and they often had submissive control issues later in life. The average victim relied on human interaction, especially authority figures, but had a hard time in sexual and romantic relationships. Ginny Weasley wasn't any one of these things. She had longed for the companionship of her attacker after the attack. She had never come to Dumbledore, or any of the staff over anxiety issues. Any control issues she had didn't leave her submissive. She was a loner save her boyfriends. She didn't rely on authority, quite the opposite. 

A first year Slytherin had caught he, Minerva, and Severus leaving the Great Hall. "Please, sir." She had gasped. "They're going to kill each other." She had told them the location and he had run. Two students dueling with Dark Magic? It wasn't the first of the kind, but the girl had sounded frantic. There had been Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy. He should have expelled Malfoy, or at least suspended him. But he didn't want the number 1 candidate for a little tattoo after graduation to be on the loose even for a week or two without the wards of Hogwarts. So he gave Draco, and Ginny, a year of detention. 

He wondered that Tom had given her all that knowledge, and that she could surpass Draco Malfoy's skill, but he stupidly had let it go. And then the reports had begun to come in. Severus mostly, but students, too. Ginny Weasley was spending all her time in the Slytherin common room. He was surprised to hear that the students were starting to respect and obey the girl.. So he tried to bust her, catch her in the act. She had lied to him, but pulled it off brilliantly. He was even more surprised when Severus ceased giving any reports on the girl. He had brought her to the office and he tried his best to get into her mind, but was given childhood images and one impression; she thought Lord Voldemort was brilliant. So he had given her a warning and let her slip away. But he knew he would regret it soon. 

                And not a week after the occasion Hermione Granger had asked, lying, why Ginny's tutoring sessions were lasting so late. Dumbledore had played dumb and promised to speak to Professor Snape. But he had logged it away in his mind. She was powerful and cunning and she had a wizard that was bested by almost no one in her mind. He would have to further consider the matter of the youngest Weasley.

                                                *                                              *                                              *

                Harry was getting a cramp in his back from crouching on the floor in the back of the Transfiguration classroom. Hermione really did owe him. This was uncomfortable and he hadn't heard Ginny talk all morning. She was kind of a loner. He had always thought of her as friendly, but distant. Beautiful, but untouchable. And out of nowhere she was a better dueler than he was, better than Draco Malfoy, who Harry had never seen the likes of. She was seductive but aloof. She disappeared for long periods of time and left vague excuses. Ginny dropped a piece of paper on the floor. He moved his foot out of the range of her arm sweeping to get. He looked over her shoulder. It didn't look like she was writing, and she had pulled out a sort of pencil he didn't think he had seen before. She was drawing a picture of Luna, who was two rows across from her. He didn't know that Ginny drew, but she was good. Very good. She touched her neck and squirmed and he realized he had been breathing on it. 

                He flopped back down. That was nothing incriminating. There hadn't been anything incriminating. The bell blared and he followed Ginny down to the Great Hall. A little Slytherin caught up with her and grabbed onto the arm of Ginny's robes. Ginny was small, and so her and the first year were practically the same height. "Ginny." The little girl squeaked and bowed awkwardly. Ginny slightly inclined her head. "I had a question about that herbology homework you were helping me with. Remember?"

                "Sure Hannah, I remember." She took the scroll of parchment and book that was presented to her, looking over them quickly. 

                "See how they don't match up. I was double-checking I wasn't sure what Professor Sprout would think, so I uh…" She pointed as Ginny looked up at her. "I know I didn't need to double-check since _you_ helped me, but I wanted to memorize everything since I've got that test coming up and…"

                "No it's important to be thorough and knowledgeable in everything you take on. Have you been working on that wand work? I want you to be useful to me. Good. You see, this rule applies only when you're using Spring pods in potions, not in the harvesting and drying. See, it's right here. Later on."

                "Oh. I'm sorry. I just read it wrong."

                "You didn't read far enough. You needed to read the entire section."       

                "I'm sorry. I'll make sure to do that. Thank you. Thank you."

                "You're welcome. Good luck on your test." 

                "Oh, I think I've got it."

                "Good, good." Ginny gave her back her things and continued on. She had been helping a Slytherin with her homework? It was something, though it didn't prove she was a dark witch. He left her at the door and went down to the kitchens as Hermione had instructed when he had remarked he would seem them at lunch. 

                "You're sick, remember? Are you suddenly feeling so well as to come to lunch and then go back upstairs to be sick? I didn't think so." He had a sandwich and crisps, gloomily wishing Ginny could just make life easier and fit into a little, unconfusing box. He heard another bell and waited outside the Great Hall for Ginny. 

                The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, just as he had expected. He watched Ginny run laps and only slightly regretted following her and Malfoy into the changing rooms of the Quidditch stadium. Malfoy pulled off shirt and watched as Ginny did the same. She stood before him in a sports bra and looked impatient. "Leave me alone and go get some clothes on." He looked only slightly wounded and complied. He watched her strip and wrap herself in a towel. He was beginning to enjoy this spying thing. 

                "You want company?" He heard a cry from the boy's side of the locker rooms. 

                "Try it and watch what happens." Was the reply. 

                "You'll ravish me?" Malfoy called hopefully. 

                "I'll curse you." Malfoy seemed to find this funny. He went into a shower stall of his own. At least Harry hoped it was a different stall. There were stalls and communal showers, Harry sat on the bench and waited for them to finish their showers. It only took a few minutes. Ginny came back and toweled her hair dry and pulled on a clean set of robes. Harry barely restrained himself from sighing wistfully. He and Luna had agreed to take things slowly, but things were going a little too slowly for an average 17-year-old male's taste. But Luna had had a hard time with people making fun of her. And he thought maybe he loved her, so he was just going to respect her wishes and be a little passive aggressive and watch his best friend's sister naked. 

 So, Ginny and Malfoy seemed to be on joking terms. Still not solid proof. Proof jumped up right in front on him as Malfoy jumped in front of Ginny and grabbed onto the arms of her robes. She didn't seem angry, in fact, a smile played on her lips. "So, Mr. Malfoy. You're trying to follow me into the showers? What would your mother say?" She whispered. 

"Something we don't repeat in front of civilized company." 

"Mmmm. Tell me." Was Ginny telling Malfoy to talk dirty? Harry shuddered. He certainly hoped not. He was grateful when Malfoy didn't answer. The problem was, Malfoy leaned down and kissed her full on the lips. Ginny didn't seem angry about this either. She kissed him back. Thankfully, it didn't last long. There was banging on the locker room door. 

"Weasley! Malfoy! Study time in two minutes! What are you doing in there? Snogging?" 

"Gag me! I'd rather kiss my own brother than his ugly mug." Ginny said with a huge smile on her face. Malfoy pretended to look offended and picked up his book bag.

                "If I wasn't an only child I'd kiss her brother, too." He said, stupidly. 

                "What?" Ginny asked with laughter in her voice. "Alright, Madam Hooch. Stick me with a fork, because I'm done." She giggled a little as she grabbed her stuff and Malfoy smacked her on her ass. Harry avoided her as she walked past him. They kissed again, tenderly, just before they left. Harry went through quickly when Malfoy was holding the door open for Ginny. He wasn't expecting him to shut it right in Ginny's face. She made a frustrated noise in her throat. Madam Hooch looked annoyed. 

                "Malfoy. You would think an impending year of detention would make you act civil towards the girl, but no, you have to remain pig-headed."

                "Why, Madam Hooch, you act as though this surprises you." Ginny shoved the door into Draco and he fell onto the ground. Both laughed. Ginny held out a hand to him and then walked away as soon as he meant to take it. "Come on, torture time you big idiot!"

                "Is that the best you have? You big dolt?" He brushed off his robes and went after them. 

                "I can't mention everything I'd like to say to you in civilized company." Ginny said in a disgusted tone. Draco grinned broadly at the mention of their earlier conversation. "So, whose supervising us tomorrow?" She stretched her arms above her head and yawned. "I'm going to sleep so well, tonight." 

                "Just so long as you don't sleep on  my homework again. Drooling all over my potions essay."

                "You liked it. It's the closest to a girl's saliva you've ever been."

                "It's the closest to a Weasley's saliva I've ever wanted to be." Draco snapped. Ginny stuck out her tongue at him, he repeated the gesture behind Madam Hooch's back.

                "Alright, you two. Professor Flitwick tomorrow." Madam Hooch said sternly.

                "Good. We haven't had him in a while." Ginny sounded pleased.

                "Yeah, he usually brings us butterbeer for torture." Draco smacked his lips.

                "And he lets us practice dwarf tossing." Ginny joked. "I must be good enough for nationals. I still don't understand why they don't have that in the Olympics."

                "You're so funny. Do you say all this in front of the professor?" Hooch asked impatiently as they went into the Great Hall.

                "He thinks it funny, as well." Draco said. "Jeez, Gin. We're regular comedians." 

                "I am. People just think it's funny that you're so big of an idiot." 

                "Bint!"

                "Prat!"

                "Slut!"

                "Bastard!" 

                "And Frances stars in it!" They sang in unison. Harry was confused. A smile played on Madam Hooch's lips. "May we?" Draco asked grandly. 

                "No." She said dryly. 

                "Alright, Ginny. She asked for it. Science Fiction/Double Feature. In A minor."

                "In a what?" 

                "I don't know." Draco shrugged. "I've heard that somewhere before."

                "Oh. Well then, without further ado…" And the two began a rousing chorus of a song Harry had never heard before. As Madam Hooch let them into a room off of the Great Hall, they slapped hands.  "Ah, another satisfied customer." Ginny said.

                "It'll be your first." Draco said.

                "Hey!" Ginny cried. Madam Hooch shut the door in Harry's face. He turned around and walked up to the common room. 

                                                *                                              *                                              *   

                "So?" Hermione asked, when they were back in Harry and Ron's room. "What did you find out?" 

                "She may not be a dark witch, but her and Draco are definitely a couple. Or something." Harry told them about his day. Hermione sat silent the entire time, while Ron made angry noises after nearly every sentence. Finally, she spoke. 

                "Well, that settles it. You'll just have to follow her to Slytherin common room. You have a few hours while they're in study time."

                "Why? Haven't I found out enough?"

                "You've found out that she's been spending time in Slytherin common room. With Draco Malfoy. Honestly, Ron, shut up." They shot each other glares. "But you haven't found out what she does in the common room."

                "If it's anything like what she does in the locker room, I'm not interested." Harry said adamantly. There was an angry mumbling and a violent reaction from the bed next to Harry's.  

                "Ron!" They called out together. He blushed and glared at them both. 

                "This is my sister you're talking about! Snogging, possibly shagging, my worst enemy." 

                "Harry'll get to the bottom of it, won't he?" Hermione gave Harry a frightening glance. 

                "Yeah. Yeah I will. Don't sweat it, mate." Harry said tiredly. It had been a long day. They studied until Harry was set to go back down to Ginny and Draco. They couldn't keep their hands off each other all the way down to the dungeons, slipping into nooks and crannies all along the way. Finally they reached the common room, Harry barely got in in time. 

                Draco picked up his books again, glancing once at Ginny, before hitting them. Ginny went around, reminding Harry of a politician, greeting people and asking about their families and friends. Harry kind of wished there were some babies around so Ginny could lavish over them and give them kisses on the forehead. Then she began work in earnest. She helped people with homework, played cards with groups of Slytherins. She had a running project, apparently, of teaching a boy to teach. The Slytherins seemed to adore and respect her. Harry was searching for an undercurrent of hostility, but there didn't seem to be one. Ginny was a fluid social creature where she hadn't been previously. 

                As he sat there in the common room, wondering what Ginny was brewing up, he feel quietly asleep after a long day. It was the only thing he could do.   

Thanks to:

LuciusisPimp11 and lil kawaii doom – Glad you like the story

meowness – I chose this perspective because it seems like Ginny and Draco romances usually involve Draco being completely out of canon. And Ginny being dark doesn't seem so far out of canon, does it?

Calliandra – I love Luna, too. Sadly, she reminds me of me. You think Harry/Luna will make it to the books?

ennui2 – As you can see, it was only a little girl that told on Ginny. And Ginny didn't really think about it, because they almost killed each other. The teachers were running because of the way the girl described it. I don't think Tom knew about the duel, a lot of the story talks about Ginny being able to keep him out of her mind, and him not minding and all. 

g21lto – Wow! Thanks for such strong praise. I appreciate any reviews, but this one was really flattering. The best… aaawwww

Neni Potter – Ginny Weasley is a little crazy. But who isn't. She's just a bit of a danger to herself and society. And tada! There is some relationship between Ginny and Draco! It's a big part of the story. Not so much the smut, but the dynamic of their relationship in regard to Ginny's position.  


	6. Happy Birthday

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and all related material doesn't belong to me. I am not affiliated with Warner Bros. or any other companies involved with Harry Potter. No infringement intended on my part. 

                Harry woke up with a wand against his throat. Harry looked at Ginny, in front of him, crouched with an angry smile on her face. The rest of the common room was deserted, thank god. "I never figured you for anyone's crony, Harry." She said saucily. "Did Hermione dupe you into this?"

                "No, Ginny, we're all worried about you. And for good reason, too, as it turns out."

                "Can you imagine what the Slytherins will do when they figure out that you've been following me around all day? That you've been in their common room? My guess is, they won't be supremely pleased." 

                "Don't threaten me, Ginny." He whispered. She got up and started pacing. 

                "Oh, I'm not threatening you. It's just I should let my buddies know that there was an enemy in their midst. Maybe you should come down here more often. Maybe you'll like it. I sure do."

                "I'll never come over to the dark side…" He spat. 

                "You're not my father!" Ginny said under her breath. "Harry, I'm not talking about the dark side, I'm talking about the fact that Hermione and Ron are sleeping in their comfortable beds knowing what went on in their own classes today. Because you were around all day. You don't need to tell me, I figured it out." 

                "Congratulations." He said dryly. 

                "Your two best friends didn't help you at all. This isn't your business at all, you're just being an instrument for the friend's that you're above." She scoffed. "Doesn't that smart?" 

                "Shut up." Harry muttered. "How did you know I was around, anyway?" 

                "You breath loudly when you're watching someone draw and when you're watching someone get undressed." She snapped. "And for final confirmation, there were two snoring legs in the corner that woke me up. It doesn't take a genius. You're going to fail stealth on your Auror exams. No that you'll ever make it to them." She said. She shook her head at him sadly. 

                "Was that a threat?"

                "No, that was a quip on your intelligence. Don't breath a word of this to Hermione, or I'll erase your memories."

                  "You can't stop me."

                "On the contrary. Professor Snape might hear about this and that would be… bad."

                "Ginny, you can't- What would your family say?"

                "I don't know. And you can't ask them. Isn't that convenient?" She giggled and then got dead serious, leaning in to Harry's face. Her sheer will sent him cowering. "Scat!" She snapped and she watched his head run across the common room and out into the corridor. Ginny watched him for a moment, running. He really should put up the hood. It's a perfect target. "_Oblivate!" Harry skidded to his heels and she went back inside. She woke up Professor Snape. _

                "What is it?"

                "Potter's out of bed, Professor." She heard yelling from outside and a smile spread across her face before she broke into full blown laughter. 

                                                *                                              *                                              *  

It was Blaise's birthday. Ginny had gotten her a beautiful collector's edition 'Wizarding Politics and Women, Everything You Always Wanted to Know and Were Afraid To Ask.' Ginny gave it to her in private with a self-satisfied smirk written across her face. "No way!" Blaise shrieked. "I didn't even know this book existed. Is it any good?" 

                "Very good. Enjoy. It isn't just about women though, it goes a little deeper into politics in general, but I was hoping you wouldn't mind." Ginny smiled happily when Blaise bounced around, finally wrapping her arms around her neck and squeezing. "I'm glad you like it. But you're going to kill me." Blaise flushed and stepped back. 

                "How do you know I'm not just trying to eliminate the competition now that I've got the goods from her?" She joked, stroking the book joyfully. 

                "We're running two different races, sweetheart, we can only help each other." Ginny said assuredly. Blaise had only smiled which both worried and comforted Ginny. 

                Now they were in the 7th year boys room, having a party. Blaise took all her gifts gratefully. She opened Draco's present, crotchless panties, and threw them at him. Draco shrugged and handed them to Ginny, who handed them to Millicent Bulstrode, who handed them to Pansy Parkinson who, amid gales of laughter, pocketed them. The room was soundproofed, and it was after all a Saturday, so the 7th years were really going to town. Morag MacDougal turned up the music as high as it would go and they dance among pillows and on the beds. She finished a dance with Morag and he spun her into Draco's arms. 

                "How come Morag never has girls in the room?" She yelled to Draco as he whirled her around. "Or is he batting for Crabbe and Goyle's team?"

                "No! No! He's straight. He just… how do I say this? We have a very diverse group of young men here, sexually. Crabbe and Goyle like each other, which is an orientation unto itself, I like small, short women and MacDougal…" 

                "He's a chubby chaser?" She laughed at Draco's confused look. "He likes big women?"

                "Well, yes. Chubby chaser. I'll have to run that by him…" Draco bellowed thoughtfully. "We really are going to ruin our ears."      

                "I don't care!" She screamed. "Why don't he and Millie… you know?" She winked. 

                "Do you like every single guy you meet?" He dipped her and she pressed her lips to his briefly. "You better answer, 'no', women."

                "If I must, no." She said delicately. 

                "He doesn't like every fat chick he runs into."  He said in her ear. The music was abruptly shut off. "Hey!" Draco called. Blaise looked up, with a mischievous expression on her face. 

                "My mother sent along a bottle of Immortal Ogden's. Does anyone care to dip in a little?" She said softly. Everyone dove for the bottle she held up. "Now don't break it, or it'll be spilling forever until we repair it." She held it up and uncorked it. "I get the first slice of cake." She threw her head back and let some run from out of her lips and run down chin, belching gloriously. "AND NOW… Ginny." She handed the girl the bottle. 

                "I've never… uh…" She looked unsure what to do. 

                "You've never gotten drunk?" Morag asked unbelievingly. 

                "Don't sound like it's something bad…" She got a determined look on her face and Draco flinched. They were in for trouble now. She threw the bottle back and swallowed and swallowed until Draco pulled it away. She gasped and coughed, furiously, before laughing. "Take that, Morag!" She whooped. He grinned stupidly. Draco had a turn with a bottle and turned to watch Blaise and Ginny box-stepping. Everyone else had as much as they wanted because the bottle couldn't run out. Blaise turned Ginny around and they started doing the jitterbug. 

                "I love this dance," Blaise yelled, though the music wasn't on. "It has so much energy." She narrowly avoided kicking Vince in the head. The world spun around Ginny and she threw her head back and laughed, making her own variations of the dance. Blaise grabbed onto her hands and they spun finally letting go and crashing against the pillows. 

                "I like this alcohol thing, I'm thinking." Ginny said softly, where they had fallen practically together. "And I like Draco and I like you…" She said sleepily. People danced around them, though no one had touched the music. 

                "Ginny?" Blaise whispered.

                "Uhhhhhh….." 

                "I've never had a best friend, before. Besides maybe Draco, but he was too close to Death Eater traditions. I think maybe you're my friend."

                "Shoe buckles! Of course I'm your friend. Or at least you're mine, but it's nice to have some confirmation on the other end. I've liked you from the first Blaise. You'll go far."

                "You were right… we are running different races. And we could both hurt each other, but it would kind of be cutting off our noses to spite our faces." Ginny sat up on her elbow. 

                "I suppose." She studied Blaise's face. "What's up?" Blaise's face twisted unhappily. 

                "You and Draco, together." Both looked over to where Draco was patiently teaching Millie to tango. And both simultaneously broke into giggles. "Last Slytherin Senior meeting, we all signed at pact not to tell. Can you believe it? Someone actually put it on the agenda. You and Draco were probably off pawing each other behind a suit of armor. And they signed a pact." She murmured the last part. Ginny had been to a few Slytherin Senior meetings. It was the 7th, 6th, and 5th years meeting together about evil issues. 

                Her and the Tremendous Trio had always joked that they were holding evil bake sales and selling satanic soap on a rope, but they actually did have meetings about upcoming attacks and what to send home to the parents. They compiled care packages of information and sent them off to headquarters where it was delivered to the Death Eaters. The smaller Slytherins passed information off to them, and they reviewed all letters going home. Depending on the contents, they set up conflict resolution sessions or tutors. Once again, it was easier to be with the Slytherins, instead of against them. 

                "That's super. I'm not gonna get mauled by the Dark Lord!" She crowed happily. No one noticed. "You wanna go outside to celebrate?" She flipped open Draco's trunk and pulled out his broomstick. Blaise grabbed the bottle of Immortal Ogden's and they opened the window. 

                "Can you stay on the broom?" Blaise asked, as Ginny clung to her waist. 

                "I think so. Can you?" She asked among giggles.

                "Here's hoping." Blaise took a swig of the bottle and they pushed off spiraling away from the window. Draco appeared in the window, waving and yelling. 

                "My broom! You bints, my broom!" 

                "Draco, be quiet." Blaise shouted back, "Shut the window and restore the sound proofing. We'll be back in in a minute." The window swung closed and both girls could barely contain their laughter. They swooped over the lake and around the Quidditch pitch. She couldn't precisely feel the cold wind against her face but she could feel something else coming quickly… 

                "Blaise. Can we make a stop in the locker rooms? I'm gonna puke." Ginny laughed. Blaise got a concentrated look on her face, determined on getting the broom to the ground. They landed and Ginny stumbled to the bathroom. Blaise gathered Ginny's hair in a ponytail as Ginny bent over a toilet and coughed up dinner and everything after besides. She washed out her mouth and splashed water on her face. She pulled out a spell and charmed some of the water so it had peppermint flavor. 

                "You're a good beginner." Blaise said, pitching forward slightly, and meeting Ginny's eyes in the mirror. Ginny looked at the two of them, drastically different in looks, but both beautiful. Different backgrounds, but shaping into similar people. Ginny looked at them together in the mirror, and she loved Blaise at that moment. She turned around and hugged Blaise tightly. Blaise froze for a moment before hugging her back. "You better not puke on me."

                "Happy Birthday, Blaise." 

                "Happy December 15th, Ginny." Blaise ruffled the girl's hair. "You need something to steady you?" She asked, blearily. 

                "Yeah." Ginny said. Blaise grabbed another cup and filled it up, but when she turned around Ginny was pulling at the bottle again. 

                "You know throwing up is the first stage of alcohol poisoning?" Blaise asked. 

                "Yeah." Ginny handed her the bottle and began to crawl out of the locker room, finally righting herself on the door handle. 

                "Okay, let me rephrase this question." She slurred. "Isn't that a bad idea considering you've never been drunk before?" 

                "Nah. My brother taught me a spell to clear alcohol out of your system."

                "Then why did you throw up?"

                "He says it makes you really cold. I didn't even think."

                "Mmmm." They collapsed on the grass of the Quidditch pitch. 

                "Blaise?"

                "Yeah?" 

                "Did you like being with Draco?"

                "As his sex slave? No." She mumbled. "I didn't have much choice. I suppose if it had to be anyone, Draco's my preference."

                "He was good in bed?"       

                "Mmmm. Yeah. I guess you're still holding out on him?"

                "Yeah…" She giggled. 

                "Good. He deserves to not get everything he wants right when he wants it." 

                "I'm actually kind of scared. I always was kind of saving myself for… uh…" Blaise understood. 

                "Take the liberties while you have them, babe. And don't be scared, sex is a party." There was a long pause, Ginny only felt the cool grass against her scalp and along her ears and forehead.

                "Blaise?"              

                "More questions?"

                "I think you're my best friend, too." She whispered and Blaise smiled sweetly, her eyes closed. 

                "Good." 

                "Isn't that sweet, lesbian broom stealers." Draco said dryly from above their heads. Both girls sat bolt upright, but flopped back again. 

                "Get over it, Draco." Blaise winked at Ginny and got up, shakily. Her and Draco looked at the broom and both completely pissed, ran for it. Blaise got to it first and leapt on it, into the air. She waved the bottle at them and sang happy birthday to herself. Ginny laughed as Draco said an oath, shaking his fist. She grabbed onto his hand and pulled him to the grass. 

                "The first time we've been alone all week and you're talking to another girl?" She whispered to him. "Well, I suppose that wouldn't make us alone, but…" He cut her off with a kiss. And pulled away for a moment. 

                "Do you suppose you could ever forgive me?" He whispered. Ginny was suddenly distinctly aware of Draco, on top of her, his fine white blonde hair falling in her face. She was also aware of emotions broiling in her stomach that probably had a lot to do with alcohol. She didn't answer him. 

                Instead, she wired her arms around her neck and clutched at him with her lips, any part of her that keep them close together. She felt the snap of his pants against her stomach and didn't care. She ran her around the skin by his waistband, she pulled the shirt up and up, and over his head. They broke the kiss only for a second. His hands fiddled with her own shirt, and they worked as well as they could with his full weight against her. Finally she pushed him off and let him unbutton the blouse, she giggled a little as he fumbled with the buttons, but finally he opened them to a plain wool cloth tied around her breasts. He smiled. Wizarding underwear. Most of the other girls had moved on to Muggle undergarments, or they wore the cloths as lingerie. But here, Ginny Weasley, wore traditional garb over the comfortable alternative. She was usually braless, or in a sports bra, when they were fooling around and he found this a treat. He glanced at her heaving chest, she was flushed all the way to where the sun didn't shine. 

                "Draco?" She whispered. "Closer."

                "I like your bender." He ran his fingers along the bottom and top, his knuckles brushing what was between. "Do you wear turns underneath, or Muggle underwear? Let's have look see." She stopped his hands. 

                "Not when I'm drunk, you tosser. I'll only let you take advantage of me to a point." She whispered. "Now, closer." She pulled him to her. The wool bothered his chest and he wondered how she could stand it. He asked her as much. "Remember? I'm poor. I can't afford embroidered satin." 

                "I'll give you grand things." He started working the knot at the back. Ginny remembered the Dark Lord promising the same thing, and her stomach lurched. 

                "Draco. Let's go to the castle." She pulled on her shirt, shaking slightly. He knew. The Dark Lord knew.

                                                *                                              *                                              * 

                 Draco grabbed onto her waist as she bent over involuntarily, trying to get up the stairs. They pulled behind a statue. Waves of comfort had been rolling over her and it seemed the Dark Lord was reassuring her somehow. She kissed Draco furiously, before starting out again, almost following over her own feet. She snorted which made Draco laugh until he snorted. And in turn, Ginny repeated the gesture. They tripped along, stepping every few feet for one to press the other against a wall and help fight off excess teenage hormones. She felt giddy. Was this puppy love that they were always talking about?

                She liked it. It was easier than the smoldering intensity she felt with Tom. They finally got back up to the room, and the party was breaking up. Draco convinced Ginny to climb into bed with him. "But no sex." She said loudly. Blaise laughed. 

                "Got that, Draco?" Draco kissed Blaise on the cheek. 

                "I've got it. Happy birthday. And no more breaking out that damn Ogden's. Unless it's a really special occasion."

                "What we're going to feel like tomorrow." Blaise said. She bid Ginny farewell and the door closed. Ginny fell asleep as soon as she crawled in bed with Draco. 

                _"So, you're not going to kill me?" Voldemort handed her a can of peach pie filling and continued with his apple. There's nothing in life like a little raw pie filling. _

_                "No. It's nothing more than a little infatuation. When we're together things will be different."_

_                "Damn right they will. I'm going to make an honest man out of you." She ate thoughtfully swallowing down the slimy slices of peaches. He chuckled. _

_                "_ _Indeed. There will be nothing so splendid as the two of us. We will be rich, and powerful."_

_                "Mmm. Sounds good. Sounds like everything's crossed off of our to do list." _

_                "You're angry. Tell me why." He sucked on his fork. _

_                "I'm not allowed to have lovers when we're together, but you can have mistresses?"_

_                "It is part of the power I hold over my people, controlling even their sexual tendencies." He said formally. _

_                "It doesn't have to be that way. If every person has to go through you then every man has to go through me."_

_                "It takes away from the power of the men."_

_                "I will be their leader. Woman or not." She sat back, pouting. "It's not fair to put me in the position of being under your men. Just because of my gender. Don't you think I'm above them?" She brushed a hand against his cheek. "Don't you think I deserve them?" _

_                "I do. But to undermine their power would be foolish."                _

_                "It is foolish to undermine the power of the women. You have a powerful bunch. Take Blaise Zabini. She can make people believe that her idea was their idea first, she would be a brilliant politician to have in the ministry. But your law forbids simply because she should be home waiting between silk sheets to produce heirs!" _

_                "Then why do I not make her queen?"_

_                "Because. She can win loyalty and I can conduct it. We're a good team, and we're both women. We could work well on our own, but Tom, together, with the women helping things could be different. I want everyone to succeed. And when everyone finds their niche, we can win." She kissed him sensually and he became Tom. "No, stay as you truly are." She whispered, kissing him again. "I desire you in whatever form you may take." _

_                "Good, good."_

_                "And the women?"_

_                "The women are yours."_

                Ginny sat bolt upright. Draco woke beside her and kissed her on the mouth. "Mmm," He whispered falling back against the pillows. "You taste of peaches." 

_That's the end of chapter five!!! Thank you to:_

_Princess of Mordor, KapOfDaPipers, shortnsassy, Aquarius Lovely, Neni Potter, y Keita. _


	7. A Traitor's Story

a/n: Hey Everybody, sorry this took so long! I started boarding school on the 16th and it's been hard adjusting and homework has barely allowed me any time to write In Passion, so thanks for all the great reviews, thank yous below, thanks for all the patience.  
  
Disclaimer- I own nothing of Harry Potter and all related material. No infringement is intended on my part.  
  
"So, this is called what?" Draco asked. Ginny pushed a few strands of cheese into his mouth and wiped some tomato sauce off of his face with her thumb.  
"Pizza." She dabbed the tomato sauce onto her tongue. "You don't like?"  
"I like very much." He glanced around the tiled pizza parlor. "Italian, you say?"  
"Yes, idiot, how many times does she have to say everything that involves Muggles?" Blaise snapped. "Even Crabbe and Goyle have absorbed this and you're just sitting there like a . . ."  
"Well, maybe because my family isn't a bunch of blood traitors like yours appear to be!" Draco ripped off another bite of pizza. Ginny rolled her eyes.  
"Your family is completely pureblood, if you can call inbreeding pure!" Blaise picked up a slice. Crabbe and Goyle untangled themselves from the booth and went to order another. They were spending the day in Muggle London, having Flooed themselves from Slytherin common room on the Sunday before they headed home for Christmas break on the 16th. They had piles of homework, but it could be done when they returned. Luckily, the entire group except Pansy owned Muggles clothes, so they had slipped fairly easily into a crowd. Since Pansy couldn't come. She was failing, and one had to keep their nose clean to be included in a controversial situation. Tom had been sending her owls, a sort of dark newsletter of sorts. There were a few boring history lessons, but besides those, the decisions being made were interesting. She had abolished the law that forbids women from having premarital relations or marriage rituals before she had slept with the Dark Lord. Tom hadn't been pleased, but who could blame him? He also wanted her to graduate a year early, but that was impossible for her. She wouldn't be ready.  
Crabbe plunked the pizza dish on top of the empty one and five hands reached in for another slice. Blaise and Draco bickered at each other and Ginny gazed around, closing her eyes against the guilt of her current situation. She was sitting in a Muggle restaurant, eating Muggle food with Muggle money they had exchanged. Sitting next to her boyfriend, not her king. Even though Voldemort insisted it was a silly infatuation, it was a bit much for a sixteen year old to deal with. She wouldn't trade it for the world, but dating Draco was playing with fire and it made her uncomfortable. And yet, there was something about him.  
She was in love with Tom, not Lord Voldemort. She insisted that they make love in his dreams in true form, but she was disgusted by him and knew he didn't know it. His power intoxicated her, but the old man she owled every single week felt like a business partner, not a king or lover.  
She yelped a little into her pizza as it burned her teeth and gums. Draco patted her back absentmindedly, still arguing with Blaise, who was shoved in between Crabbe and Goyle on the other side of the booth. They finished the third pizza off quickly, all fit to burst. Heading back to the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny grabbed onto Draco's hand, scraping off dried pizza sauce with her fingernail.  
"So you liked pizza? You warming up to Muggles?" She joked, pushing her sunglasses into her hair as they entered the pub.  
"Eye-tal-yon pizza." Blaise said.  
"Blaise, lay off." Ginny snapped. Blaise swung her lovely head and smiled.  
"Sure, principissa." They flooed back to Slytherin commons, thankfully empty save a few first years. One broke off from the gaggle and tugged on her shirt. "Layman." She said slowly and tersely. "If you want my attention, do not pull on my clothes. Ask for my attention."  
"Ginny, someone came by for you, from Gryffindor."  
"My brother?" She asked, throwing down her purse and flopping down on a couch, putting her feet up on a coffee table.  
"Red hair like yours. Asked if I had seen you." She sat up with interest, to see what he had done. Most of the little twerps would have say they hadn't seen Madam Ginny or something stupid like that.  
"I asked who you were and why a stinking Gryffindor had the password."  
"Very good, and?"  
"He said that he had gotten it off a Slytherin, that he was quite good friends with most of them actually."  
"Wasn't that clever of my darling brother?" She said to Draco as she pulled him by the hips on to the couch. "And how did you respond?"  
"I said, 'begging your pardon then, we don't often have Gryffindors down here. And then I said that I hadn't seen any Ginny around and asked what you looked like."  
"And then.?  
"He went away."  
"Very good, Layman. We may have use for you yet." She brushed a lock out of his eyes and he blushed, shuffling away.  
"You're such a tease." Draco joked, picking up a book on the coffee table and flipping through it. "These poor young ones don't know what to do."  
"Are you all packed up?" Blaise came and sat on Ginny's outstretched legs. "You're both leaving, right?"  
"Yes, some of us are wanted at home." Ginny joked. Blaise wasn't going home for Christmas, because of an attack on Hogsmeade on the day after Christmas. Only a few Slytherins were staying here, partially to maintain a feeling of normality and partially to help out. Ginny and Blaise both were going to stay back, the Dark Lord wanted Ginny to be able to get into the midst of things, though she was a year from initiation, but Ginny's mother felt differently. "No dear, you simply can not stay at Hogwarts this year. We need to talk and besides, we're having the first family Christmas since Ronnie left for Hogwarts." She wasn't looking forward to seeing everyone. But she might get some good information for their side.  
"Yeah, we're both going home." Ginny said gloomily. "Mummy said so. I think she would have come through the fire and cursed my ass to September had I not agreed."  
"Well, I'll send you a letter with details of the action."  
"You're sweet." Ginny said sarcastically. Blaise stood up and pulled Ginny after her, "What are you doing?" She said tiredly. Blaise didn't answer, they kept climbing the stairs. They reached the seventh year girls room and Blaise glanced inside to make sure it was empty before yanking Ginny inside. Ginny flopped down onto Blaise's bed. Blaise looked serious.  
"Look, Ginny. I know you want to be here for the fighting and all, but it's not worth it before you're initiated. We've got time before we have to deal with all this crap, and I'm not excited to be here during the holidays. Look, something you don't understand about this all is that it's not fun killing people and running away from Aurors. The power is intense and intoxicating and it's wonderful. That's what we're all in it for, but the thing is, during those attacks, it gets scary. Death Eaters get hyped up and you see your own parents experiencing blood lust and childhood friends panicking and blasting someone's brain's out before they're sure of anything besides the fact that they're not death eaters. You haven't grown up in this, and it seems to be an advantage for you excepting the fact that you have no experience with this. We saw little things, Muggle tortures, stuff like that. Just little things. It never stopped." Ginny grabbed onto Blaise's hands, because her eyes were haunted. "The politics, the power, it's so glamorous. But the rest of it, the big stuff the stuff that makes us famous, it's cruel and frightening. Wait a little while, keep undercover and watch your ass over break. Go back to Gryffindor common right now, reassure your brother and his friends, come down here to sleep and be ready in the morning to have a wonderful, informative Christmas with your family." Blaise squeezed Ginny's hands back, smiling suddenly. "And never be sorry when you miss an attack. You're not missing much."  
"Yeah." Ginny said quietly.  
"After my long speech, that's all you can say." Blaise laughed. "I don't want to scare you away, Ginny. But I'm not going to lie to you or make things pretty, because they aren't. Being a death eater is persistent reality."  
"Albert Einstein said something similar to that once." Ginny hooked arms with Blaise and started down the stairs.  
"Who's Albert Einstein?"  
"Oh. He's just the world's coolest Muggle. He's dead now, but he had the sickest hair and the most chill quotes. Worth knowing, by all means. He could have turned Dumbledore, dude." That was a common saying among Voldy- boppers, the children of Death Eaters, expressing the coolness of a person. Blaise nodded.  
"There were some pretty awesome Muggles, it's true, but most of them had magical roots, you understand." She said. "Oh, really?" Ginny said sarcastically. She spoke briefly to Draco before heading back up to the Gryffindor common room. Ron looked up as she came in. Harry was studying and Hermione was sleeping on an armchair.  
"Where've you been all day?"  
"Library. Some little snake was sassing off to me and asked if you had found me. Was he just making fun of us for being poor or were you looking for me?"  
"Why would he be making fun of you for being poor by asking you that?"  
"I don't know, Slytherins are stupid."  
"You really think so?"  
"Aren't you tired of this game, Ronald?"  
"Do you always answer a question with a question?"  
"Shut up, Ronnie." She slid into a chair next to him. "Do you have a lot of homework over the holidays?"  
"Nah, not too much compared to what we usually have." She reached forward and started kneading his shoulders and he shifted and leaned against her. "Ginny, I've really been worried about you. I'll do it Bill style and not hit the roof if you want me to, but, honestly, I wish you would just tell me what's going on."  
"Have you talked to Mum at all about stuff in the order? Are we going to be there at all over the holidays or what?" They used to do this all the time, when he came home from the holidays or when they were studying together at school and home. She would rub his back and they would talk. People always joked that they were practically like twins and in some ways that was true. In many ways it was not.  
"Nice job, changing the subject." Ron said. "I can't believe it hasn't snowed yet. It's been barely cold."  
"Nice job." Ginny pulled away and went to stand next to the window, glaring out. "Global warming, you know, it's everywhere in the weather." Ron came beside her and clasped a hand over her shoulder, warm and firm.  
"Yeah, everything bad today seems to be."  
"What, in the weather?"  
"No, everywhere." Ron's hand gave an ominous squeeze and he went to sit back down. Ginny blew her breath against the window and lazily drew the Dark Mark, as her breath pulled back in and slowly dissolved her artwork.  
* * *  
"That's a beautiful likeness of Blaise."  
"Yes, it is." Ginny agreed. Blaise had started showing up a whole lot more in her art. She had two more sketchbooks to shove into her Gringotts vault and was constantly improving on her collection. "I'm going to miss her, worry about her you know."  
"Oh, you're just jealous." Draco joked, pinching her cheek.  
"No. I don't think I am." Ginny whispered. "I don't think it's that. And I don't think that I'm chickening out either, I'm just at a loss for inspiration."  
"Don't wimp out on me." Draco said softly, his lips pressed against her temple. "Please Ginny, our side needs you."  
"Draco, don't." She brushed him away impatiently, picking her pencil back up.  
"Don't what?" He bristled. "What don't you want me to do, Gin? Touch you?" Ginny stiffened.  
"Don't be angry about that, Draco. If you're going to be angry, which it looks like you just might insist on doing."  
"Sometimes Ginny, I think you don't want me like I want you."  
"I'm in a difficult position, you know that. I want to take things slowly." He was pacing from side to side, his feet slamming into the ground. Ginny stayed seated, talking to her sketch book, though her pencil wasn't moving. "You knew all this when we got into this stupid game. And I'm a little tired of it, Draco. If all you wanted was sex, why don't you enlist the help of someone who can help you with just that?"  
"Fuck you, Ginny! You know I care about you."  
"Very caring, Draco! Cussing me out, acting like the only thing I am to you is sex! I'm the Dark Queen, not a bright idea."  
"Not yet, you aren't, and even then, you shouldn't hold your power over me! I'm not a plaything you can toss aside."  
"And I'm not some dumb sex toy raised to cater to your needs!" Draco's lips pursed and his fists clenched. "Well, I guess we both got the wrong impression." She stood slowly, pulled her book bag over her shoulders and tucked her pencil behind her ear. She opened the door and had her head out before she turned around.  
"Draco, are you completely loyal? Do you love every single thing about the Dark Lord and the way he runs his fan club? Don't you want things to change? I mean, maybe you don't want women's liberation. And I'm not asking you to burn your bender, but I am asking you to just give this all a try. Please, just give respect where it's due. This is important to me. And if you care as much as you say you do, than you'll follow me on this and acknowledge me as a person, unlike you've been raised." He was silent, still looking down. "Completely loyal. I know you are. Never mind then. Goodbye Draco. It was fun and all, sorry you didn't get laid, see you in detention."  
"They- uh. They promised my family that they would get my father out of jail." Ginny paused and turned. "But a year and a half later, he's still in there. No dementors or anything but, my father." Draco shook his head, his hands shaking. "My father was an elegant man."  
"I know." She said.  
"He was neat and clean and calm and collected. He was never really flustered. Always perfection, as if carved out of stone. My mother, too. We were perfect all of us. Except when I would do things. Childish things." He waited for a long time before speaking again. Ginny slipped quietly onto a seat, clicking the door closed. "We weren't supposed to, because it looked bad and we were still supposed to be ashamed of him and everything. To distance ourselves from investigations and everything. But I visited him. This summer. He looked, different. And he always asks when the Dark Lord will get him out, but he always says that he trusts in the Dark Lord's word. But Voldemort won't ever get him out. I've realized that now."  
"Draco." She said, a lump forming in her throat. Draco looked up and then fell to his knees, shuffling up to her.  
"My queen. Will you take my father from Azkaban?" He looked into her eyes. Ginny reached out a hand and brushed his chin. He hadn't shaved yet that day and the five o' clock shadow was rough against her hand.  
"Yes, I will, Draco."  
"We're visiting him. On Wednesday. Mum really wants to. You can come."  
"I'll speak to the Dark Lord, Draco. He'll have an idea. Draco, I've been 'in the bathroom' for almost an hour now, I've got to go back with my brother and his friends." She stood again and left. As she was walking down the corridor, Draco stuck his head out the door.  
"Ginny." Ginny looked at him, his cloudy soulful eyes. "I love you."  
The feelings inside her finally burst and she thought of a million things to say. To run to him and kiss him, or tell him every thing that came into her mind. She was bursting. And she knew that the words were torn from him, that it was extremely difficult for him to say those words that he was probably rebuffed when saying them to his own mother. All this swirling around in her gut she opened her mouth and a single word spilled out with a gush of tears. "Okay."  
* * *  
"So, Gin." George said slowly, from the front seat.  
"So, George." She said sarcastically. "Why aren't Ronnie and Harry riding in this car?" The twins had picked them up at the station, but Ron and Harry had ended up taking a cab while Ginny rode with the twins.  
"We told them to."  
"Oh, right. I'm going to get a lecture now, aren't I?"  
"We've heard tell that you've been hanging out with the Slytherins."  
"That's very interesting. Just because I have detention with the most lowly snake of them all, practically a worm, I'm all of a sudden guilty of what, dark witchcraft?"  
"You tell us, Gin." Fred said. "We've been hearing nothing but trouble. Coming in late, not sleeping in your own room. Running around the grounds with a certain convict's son."  
"We have detention together, one of the activities happens to be running." Ginny said dryly, looking out the window. It was going to be a long two weeks, even with promised owls from Draco, Blaise, and The Dark Lord. She pulled out a piece of parchment and started to outline a report to Voldemort around the issue of Lucius Malfoy. She was learning to tread carefully around things that concerned known Death Eaters, and though Lucius was never mentioned, as his former right-hand man, Ginny knew when she was overstepping the line.  
"Look, all I'm saying is that you should be more careful about where you sleep and stuff. These are very important times."  
"Just because Ronnie is making up stuff, doesn't mean-"  
"Ron?" Fred looked around in his seat. "Who said anything about Ron? We've been corresponding with Snape for the past month."  
* * *  
Severus Snape was a man of few pleasures. Sitting in his expensive leather seat, the smell of it rising to carefully expanded nostrils, sucking in the sweet odor of a new, brewing potion. Bourbon, biting at his lower lip as it pleasured his tongue and burned down to his stomach, was swirling around in an old beaker, elegant all the same. There was an old rock band playing, when wizard music was more than this crap that flaunted misused Muggle instruments and petty concepts. The students had left that day, Monday, and it was already late at night. He tapped his foot and gave the brew a little twitch, mixing in an ingredient, just enough.  
There was a beautiful, subtle art to potion-making. You could create something deadly out of completely benign contents. A person could become something completely different, just by taking a sip of something tinged with a foreign substance.  
He could pinpoint the day he had discovered potions. Not the precise date, really, just the moment, the memory of the day. But it had all started from the beginning.  
He was born in the village that his great grandfather had formed and stolen the name of, Snape. He had been named Severus, after his grandfather, who had been leader and driven the Muggles out of Snape. By the time his father's time came around, Muggles were creeping back in. By the time his father had died and his time had come around to lead the village of Snape, it was completely Muggle and he hadn't been back to the village since he was allowed to leave. He didn't want it anymore than he had wanted to see his father when the owl arrived announcing that his death was near. At the time, he had had a family of another kind. And though they let him keep his heritage in his name, a mark on his arm told of a new loyalty.  
His had been a difficult childhood. His mother and father were enemies at best, staying together only to maintain wizarding conventions of marriage. Devon Snape had been an angry man at the best of times, with a weakness for alcohol and women and a tendency towards violence when he had had either one. From an early age, Snape had begun putting make-up on his mother. When she had to leave the house, even when she didn't. So she didn't catch a glance of herself in a mirror and dissolve into tears, clutching at her dress. They had gone to the stores and picked out heavy Muggle make-up and grabbed lunch at the little café next to the general store.  
There were almost a hundred funny little cases in his mother's bathroom. There were the kinds that he swiped onto his mother's face with his little fingers, heavy and oily. The ones that he patted onto her face with a heavy puff, so it didn't shine like old coffee when you switch on the light and realize you've left it there a week. The ones that he rubbed on with a spongy cloth, the genuine smell that make-up smudged behind unlike any other.  
If he wanted his mother to look the way she wanted to, he had to combine them. So he swiped and then smudged and then puffed, until she looked like a normal woman. One who didn't spend her evenings being slammed against expensive marble floors, or being dashed to pieces on the slab of her husband's words. Understanding those subtleties in simply applying make- up to his mother's bruised face, was enough to make him fall in love with them.  
And then he went to Hogwarts. Where he was always unhappy, but finally realized how much he hated his mother. All her whimpering dejectedness, simply refusing to do anything for herself. The way she made dinner for three every night. Staring at the food across from her, as he quietly picked at his own, guilty for not wanting what his mother desperately yearned for; his father. As it lost steam and grew cold, only to be thrown across the room by his father the same night. Almost as much as he had known that he loathed his father, he knew that his hatred for his mother was sure.  
He had done beautifully in all his classes, even though he spent evenings alone in the room, and ate meals on his own side of the table. But he was content in simply doing things his own way and avoiding the Marauders.  
And he always did things with the same love and care, always pursuing the subtleties in everything. He did well enough in potions while he was in school, but soon after he graduated, he was lured away, by the friendliness of Lucius Malfoy, and later by the power and belonging he hungered for. And so the years passed, and something was lost to him.  
One day, he was wandering through Hogsmeade, soon after an attack, just to be seen and get an alibi, when he caught a view of Hogwarts, and decided to walk the length of the old path and wander inside. He paced the halls for a long time, finally he ended up in the potions classroom. The old potions classroom, eerie, with the dead things suspended in glass jars. There was a bubbling cauldron on the desk and Severus wandered up to it, quietly. His fingers danced across the hot edge of the cauldron and when he looked up, Poppy Pomfrey stood before him.  
"You weren't bad at potions." She said, tipping a cauldron onto the table. "Help me out." She pushed a bottle into his hand, and a list of instructions in the other. "I'll be back in a minute. And watch that 'un." His hand shook a little as the door closed. He started a flame underneath the cauldron and then looked at the bottle in his hand. 'Armadillo Bile.' It called for a certain amount. He poured and knew exactly when to pull the bottle up, so not a drop too many went in. His mind wandered a little while his hands worked methodically. He remembered, just as putting on his mother's make-up, what exactly the finer things in life were. By the time the potion was finished and bottled he was already in the Headmaster's office, pouring out his heart, and promising a million things to him. He had never properly thanked Poppy. But it wasn't really her he ought to thank. It was his mother.  
And when he became a teacher, he had applied for defense against the dark arts, he still wanted defense, but a part of him still knew where he belonged.  
Severus gave the potion another stir and leaved over to wetly inhale, the door burst open and banged against the wall. He looked up, his eyes steely, he was not one to be bothered by boisterous students. His mouth went dry and his face pallid as saw the first figure in the door, knowing there would be a few behind her. "Severus."  
"I thought you went home, for- for the attack." He said softly, slipping softly into his seat. He laid his fingers in front of him.  
"Surprise! Now, we made a deal. I upheld my end of this little bargain." Ginny moved softly into the room, talking comically bright, an unusual smile on her face.  
"I kept up my end of the deal, as well." Ginny picked something up and weighed in her hand, putting it back down again and shaking her head.  
"My brothers knew about me. And I managed to convince them that it was Harry having trouble with his scar again. I don't know how good my memory charms are, and I kind of like my brothers. Fred and George, you know, the twins." She grin widened. "That wasn't very sporting, Sev. In fact you hurt my feelings. So I wrote a friend of mine and he gave me a little condolence and a little gift. Goyle!"  
Gregory Goyle came out of the shadow of the doorway. "Shall I bring in the others, Ginny?"  
"Yes, I'd like them all to see what happens to traitors. To traitors of traitors." Severus moaned as most of the seventh years filed into the room. The only one missing was Draco Malfoy. "Give me your wand, Millie."  
"But. but. they'll think it was me."  
"No, they won't. Tell them you realized you had forgotten it. You're going to send an owl after this to Dumbledore asking for your wand, you left it in the common room you see. Oops. Then some psychopath," Millicent Bulstrode handed her the wand. "picked it up and did away with the potions professor. It's really a shame. You can't trust anyone these days." Severus sucked in deep breaths. His heart was thudding in his chest and he could barely breathe. This was it. If he reached for his wand, she would kill him, she was that quick. If he summoned Dumbledore, it would be too late. There was however, a small chance. If he knocked over the potion in distraction while simultaneously throwing Floo powder in the fire he might be able to get away. It was worth a chance. The Floo was behind the cauldron, he grabbed a fistful, knocked over the potion with his elbow and dove for the fireplace.  
* * *  
"My lord?"  
"I said you need not worry about the queen. That will be enough for you."  
"Indeed, it is my lord. But the people are waiting."  
"Wormtail, I grow tired of you. I wish for Lucius or Barty Crouch again, just to be rid of your stupidity."  
"Truly sir, I am stupid beyond doubt."  
"Without a doubt. I have said, do not worry about the queen. Tell my followers that by the end of two years they will have a queen."  
"But my lord, should that not suffice, may I say."  
"It will suffice because I have said it, fool. Leave."  
"Yes, my lord, yes." Lord Voldemort sat down and composed a brief letter to Ginny Weasley before sitting down for his favorite pastime.  
* * *  
The fireplace crackled ominously, the green flames still flickering. "Stupid." Ginny said. "That was very stupid." She turned around and walked away, dropping the wand in the doorway, while the body of Severus Snape lay next to the fire, keeping warm until the next morning when they would find him, burned like he had been spending a day at the beach.  
Ginny flooed out through the Slytherin common room with brief goodbyes to everyone. Blaise followed her, and was there to hold her hair when she retched let tears mingle. Her throat aching and tears flowing down her face as easily as sweat.  
Even after Blaise left, she sat there for a long time, rocking back and forth, staring at her blurry complexion in the water in the toilet, murmuring a lullaby her mother had sang to her when she was very young.  
"Howling winds,  
Dreadful seas,  
Keep my baby close to me.  
  
Rumbling skies  
Ruffled wings,  
Keep my baby far from thee.  
  
I love the life  
The grass ,the trees,  
I love my baby on my knee.  
  
Kiss his forehead  
Kiss her cheek  
Baby's many, baby weak  
  
Kiss her forehead  
Nudge the cheek.  
Baby's mild, baby meek.  
  
Love the tears And yearn not A moment's years Are never forgot. " 


	8. Normal

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and all related material belong to Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. No infringement intended on my part.

            "Glad to be on break?"

            "Huh? Oh, hi, Harry." Ginny looked up from the couch where she was sketching a face that had been haunting her dreams the previous night, after she had finished tossing and turning. She was lazily drawing this morning, a cup of coffee in one hand and a fresh snowy sketchbook propped on her knee. "Yeah, no more detention for a few weeks. That's always a good thing." Harry nodded sliding down beside her.

            "What are you drawing?" He glanced over her shoulder. "Snape?"

            "Oh yeah, I was just thinking of him for some reason. I don't really want to though, you want a portrait done?"

            "Sure, brilliant." Harry turned to face her as she turned onto a new page. She was doing the curve of his face when she felt a hand on her knee. She looked up into Harry's warm green eyes. "Ginny?" Oh god. She did not need this right now.

            "So Harry, you must be really disappointed about Luna." She drew his scar, carefully, but jagged. Like a dagger. Harry and Luna had broken up a week previously, her doing rumor had it, but Harry hadn't seemed to be extraordinarily torn up. 

            "Things weren't working out. So we kind of mutually separated, you know. We weren't seeing too much of each other as it were."

            "Yeah, but still, there's a routine to being in a relationship. You must miss that at least. Or at least the articles in the Daily Prophet, every time you and Luna would go off to snog." She grinned at him and he grinned back. Her grin faded a little, knowing who Harry was and simply hating the fact that he was the enemy. She had wanted a normal life, but what was normal after all? Harry and Hermione were her friends, even if they were a tad annoying and obnoxious at times. There was something painful about how normal all this was, and how comforting the idea of not worrying about the attack or anything was.

            "I don't really."

            "Huh?"

            "I don't really miss the routine. Or the articles, especially." Harry sat back again, his hand flopping to his own knee. "Am I moving too much?"

            "No, I've captured the idea of you, which means I can touch things a time or two when you move."

            "I'll stay still all the same."

            "Much appreciated." There a few minutes of silence before Ginny handed him the notebook, taking a sip of her coffee and watching him for his approval.

            "Absolutely brilliant." He breathed. "I can't believe what you can do in that short amount of time with only a pencil."

            "Sometimes I can't either, but it's really my hands guide me. I barely know what I'm drawing sometimes until something surfaces and I realize what it is I'm capturing."

            "You're a true artist, Ginny."

            "Thank you, Harry." They paused for a moment, she took another slurping gulp of coffee. A head appeared in the fireplace suddenly and Ginny choked a little. "Professor Dumbledore, sir!" She cried. "How's it going?" She slowed her tone, realizing there was nothing to panic about.

            "It's not going so well, I'm afraid, Miss Weasley."

            "Oh." She wasn't sure how to respond.

            "Should I get Molly or Arthur?" Harry clambered quickly to his feet.

            "Both if you can." Harry was out of the room in a flash. Ginny picked up her sketch pad and showed it to the fire.

            "Not a bad likeness, don't you think?"

            "Where were you last night, Ginny?"

            "I rode the train home, my brothers drove me here, and I did a little homework before I went to sleep. Just like every other kid."

            "I see. Can anyone prove that?"

            "I guess Mum could, but we weren't sleeping in the same bed or anything."

            "I see."

            "I'm glad you still can, sir. Sometimes I think those glasses would be more sufficient if they covered your whole eye." Before he could respond, Molly skidded in panting, with Harry at her heels.

            "Arthur will be down momentarily, Albus. Whatever is the matter? Harry said it sounded urgent."  She breathed in deeply, clutching her chest slightly. Both her and Harry's faces were tinged a little with red, which made Ginny pause a moment before shifting her weight and sitting down on the carpet, watching Dumbledore with as much interest as he was watching her.

            "I'm afraid it is, Molly."

            "People say I'm the spitting image of my mother, but she's over there, I swear. Maybe glasses like Harry's." She pointed to her own eyes before gesturing towards her mother. Neither Albus or Molly said anything, but both tensed a little.

            "Severus is dead. Found in his office. I believe they found out he was a double agent." Ginny gasped, pulling her hands to her face, letting her coffee slop into her lap. She jumped up cursing. Albus watched her with vague interest as her mother cleaned things up for her, and Harry moved to comfort her.

            "He told me about an attack in Hogsmeade, at least, before he died."

            "He was always so reliable." Molly sniffed, her face steely. "Do you have any idea, Albus."

            "None." He sighed, heavily. "The wand was Millicent Bulstrode's, but she had sent an owl saying that she had forgotten it."

            "But how can that be, a wand it like an opposable thumb, you just don't walk off with it." Ginny exclaimed. "That's stupid."

            "Nonetheless, her parent's concede that she was indeed distraught when she got home, not knowing where her wand was, finally remembering it was in the common room." Arthur came dashing in, and things were quickly explained to him. He slumped into a chair and buried his head in his hands.

            "He was our only correspondent within the Death Eaters. Even better, he was in cahoots with the inner-circle. What will we do, Albus?" He choked, his voice muffled against his ragged sleeves.

            "I'm not sure. We've lost a good man. I think we should remember that over the information we will be losing."

            "You're right, you're right." Arthur stood up and began pacing. "But Albus, who could have possibly-?"

            "Where was Ginny last night?"

            "Albus, surely not Ginny! You couldn't be accusing my own child?" Molly cried out. "She came home, she went to sleep. I checked on her in the middle of the night and she was sleeping like a lamb. I like to watch my children sleep. "

            "No, no. She is just vulnerable to being possessed because she has been so before by the Dark Lord. It was a silly question, Molly?" Ginny sobbed further into Harry's shoulder, real this time, for Severus Snape, the first man she had ever killed. It struck her for a moment that she had killed someone before she had even had sex or gone to second base. That wasn't an average teenage crisis. She wadded fists of Harry's shirt into her hands and cried harder. He rubbed her back softly with his wide hands, his thumb rubbing slightly over the knot of her bender, a wizarding bra. She gasped a little and looked into his eyes, completely ignoring what was going on otherwise. His eyes swam a little too, as if he was holding back grief, being strong. Probably for her. He wiped a lock of hair out of one of the streaming rivulets down her face. "I'm sorry, Ginny."

            "You wanna go degnome the garden?" She said. His arms dropped from her and he stepped away. The vacuum of warm air that left was enough to make her stagger. She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew that she wanted to distance herself from the tragedy. She wanted something normal. The door slammed shut behind her and Harry jumped from the position ahead of her. He picked up the first gnome that went by and swung it for a long time before letting it fly. When it did, it went as far as Ginny had ever seen it. "I can't believe I was accused. The first person, maybe. They said it wasn't my fault, that they would never hold it against me. And there you go," She grasped a gnome by the ankles and started swinging it around in wide circles. "First thing, I'm accused."

            "That was a lie you know."

            "I know."

            "I've never, ever seen anyone as quick as you. You're a threat. Especially since they think that you're in cahoots with the Slytherins."

            "Do you think so?"

            "I'm never sure." He answered honestly, sighing deeply. They ventured more deeply into the garden, searching for stray gnomes.

            "Why don't you believe me?" She grabbed onto his hands, as he moved to bend, so he had to look at her.

            "You scare me shitless, Ginny."

            "Oh." She dropped his hands.

            "But I think. I don't know why, I think I love you." He said it quietly, but it burst onto Ginny as nothing ever had before. She grabbed Harry and kissed him as furiously as she could. He responded quickly, after getting over his initial shock like a flash. He pressed into her like a bulldozer, knocking her against the rough brick wall, she drew him as close as she could. This was what teenage girls did. Good, normal teenage girls snogged Harry Potter in the back garden. His hands were in hair and his hips rubbed against hers and suddenly she knew what she had to do to distance herself from the world right now. Something that she could fall back on, a memory of normality. The rough brick crumbled as her shirt pulled up and the red rock scratched at her.

            "You want to go upstairs?" She was surprised at how throaty her voice was.   

            "Yeah. I do." This seemed to be a surprise to him.

            "Even if it never goes beyond this one time?" She stroked his hair and he paused for only a moment before answering.

            "I think maybe I prefer it that way." She straightened out her clothes and they passed by the family room as quietly as they could, where her parents were still talking to Dumbledore. She closed the door to her room was thrown to the bed by Harry. And as they peeled away clothes, breathing heavily, pausing for noises, as they both admitted this would be the first, as she gritted her teeth as pain crept up her insides, as they searched for a rhythm, Ginny gazed up into Harry's eyes and never looked away.

            When Ginny woke up, an arm around her waist, suddenly familiar with the smell of sex, she noticed three letters on her desk. She slipped away from Harry and stuffed the letters in a drawer, just as a knock came at the door. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit." She shook Harry awake, yelling, "Just a second." They searched around desperately for somewhere he could hide. Finally deciding on the closet, she grabbed a robe, stuffed him inside, closing the door and threw the windows open, trying to stuff all of Harry's clothes under the bed, the door swung open. It was Bill.

            "What are you in your knickers?" He asked. "Cause I've seen it all before Gin, and it ain't that exciting." Ginny stood up, boxers still in hand, she quickly stuffed them underneath her comforter and ran for Bill, hugging him, hard.

            "How are you, Billy Boy? I've not seen you in what, a year?"

            "Yeah, that's right. You've missed me?" He swung her around and kissed her face gently.

            "My favorite brother right? It's kind of messy in here I just STUFF CLOTHES UNDER THE BED." She steered him out of the room and shut it loudly. "How have you been really? I can't believe what's happened." She sighed deeply. "What time is it?"

            " Almost five."

            "You're kidding me."

            "I kid you not. You must have been really tired."

            "Uh-huh. So seriously, what's up right now?"

            "Not a lot. Severus was killed by Avada Kedavra, and a damn powerful spell. There's another thing, Gin. Dumbledore's here and he wants a copy of your fingerprints." Ginny froze suddenly. Bill stopped on the stairs and looked at her expression. "You okay there, kiddo? Look, no one thinks you did this, but they want to take every precaution in case of another case of possessing. Do you remember where you were last night?"

            "I was just sleeping, I think!" She shook her head unhappily, had she remembered to wipe the fingerprints off the wand? She was unnerved to see Dumbledore and she shook a little. He was flipping through her sketchbook and her fists curled in anger. "That's personal!" She snatched it from his hands, and Bill looked thunderstruck.

            "Gin, don't!" She didn't answer. "Sir, I'm really sorry."

            "I have a feeling Ginny isn't completely herself. I'd like to talk to her in private for a moment." Bill left and closed the door. Dumbledore instantly faded away and a man with long black hair and slick little goatee took his place. "Ginny Weasley. I'm pleased to finally meet you. There is talk at headquarters about you."

            "I don't know you." She said quietly.

            "I know this." He stood and elegantly paced. "There is talk that you'll be queen." He grabbed her chin. "I have every hope that it fulfilled and every hope that the Death Eaters may show their queen their loyalty." She slapped him across the face.

            "And I'll show you-"

            "Now, Princess, let's not fight." He seemed to have taken the violence extremely well. "I've a message for you I think you'll like."

            "Yeah?"

            "Walk down to the village tomorrow and you'll meet someone who can help you with your little infatuation's preoccupation."

            "What does that mean, where do I meet them?"

            "I don't understand the messages, Princess, I just deliver them."

            "Where's the real Dumbledore?" She asked, breathlessly.

            "Well, he's in the kitchen with your parents. Soon they're going to figure out that there's been a little mistake and when they come back in you'll have been stunned." He pulled out his wand, a strange green color, and raised it high above her. There was a banging at the door.

            "Hey! What're you-?"

            "_Stupefy!_" Ginny slumped down, her head cracking on the coffee table. The man looked suddenly petrified, and apparated as the door slammed open and the real Dumbledore hurtled inside, picking Ginny up as her blood matted the carpet, leaking from her head.

            "This'll be my head." Wormtail selected a card carefully from his hand and discarded it. It was a King of Spades. "Was she hurt?"

            "I don't know," A sweet female voice intoned, plucking the King and setting down a two. "It's nothing that precious Dumbledore can't remedy, I'm so sure."

            "And she won't recognize you? It's essential that she don't know our insiders until she's initiated and passing over information." Wormtail fumbled with a card and discarded it lazily. A Queen of Spades

            "She's thinks that I'm a man, Peter. Don't worry your little, balding head." Wormtail looked up for a moment and paused. The woman, slightly hidden in shadows, smiled lusciously, and he was appeased. She picked up the queen and knocked. Wormtail flushed as she turned out a perfect Gin. 

            "Then I'd better go." He said gruffly, standing up. "If I'm going to help her with Lucius Malfoy. He must really care if he's going to all this trouble for her crush's father."

            "Maybe he's going soft." She grabbed the cards in her pretty hands, pushing them together neatly. "Maybe there needs to be a change in the management."

            "That talk is petty, and you know it. Probably better than I. No one can overthrow Voldemort." He shivered a little as he said the name and the woman's lip curled.

            "Except maybe the little princess. If we got her on the side of a rebellion…"

            "You'll rip us apart! How can we concentrate on the movement at hand if we start another within the heart of our society."

            "Think of it, Wormtail. Think of what we could all offer. What I could offer." She touched under his chin, lightly.

            "I have to go." He said again, apparating under her hands. She cursed slightly and sat down. She could corrupt Ginny Weasley and the Dark Lord would kill the little strawberry blonde wench. She, far more beautiful, more powerful could be queen.

            "You sure you're okay to walk around after all that? I'm just not sure Ginny." Molly was wringing her hands.

            "I just want to get out. This is my vacation, Mum. I don't think I'm in any danger that I can't handle on my own. I'll take my wand and you know that I'm quick and I can defend myself. I just didn't think that I needed my wand with Dumbledore, but even if you come up to me I'll rough you up a little until I'm sure you're really my Mum, okay?" Ginny let this all out in a long breath, and her mother smiled a little.

            "Dumbledore told us that you really are an amazing dueler. I was so proud."

            "Even if it got me a year of detention."

            "You got appropriate consequences as far as I'm concerned, however, when you're in the Order of the Phoenix, though hopefully we'll have this nipped in the bud before next year," Molly said. Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, we'll need someone like you around to help us."

            "Thanks Mum, what's going on with the movement right now, anyway?" Molly paused, remembered that Dumbledore had instructed them not to speak too much to Ginny, just as precaution. All these close calls. Luckily, in all the excitement they had forgotten to fingerprint her, but even if she hadn't had something to do today, she would want to skip out in case Dumbledore remembered. "Mum?"

            "Well, really nothing darling. We're preparing for the attack on Hogsmeade. Not telling the villagers because that might hurt our chances of catching anyone. If they think an attack is happening then they might just let the cat out of the bag and then word would get around and we would never have a chance to squash this bug."

            "Yes, Mum."

            "But we're putting everything forward. All of our troops in Hogsmeade, really duking it out." She looked pleased with herself. "We'll get them, don't you worry."

            "I'm going to go now, okay?" Ginny stood up and ran to her room. She picked up the letters to look through them again, she had only glanced at them the night before. She started out the door and shook out the first one from Blaise.

_Gin – _

_            I hope this letter finds you well. Things have been kind of hectic here, I'm getting something like a million owls a day from everyone. You have to be super careful in keeping your nose clean. You might want to reconsider going to Azkaban like Draco had mentioned you might. But then again, Lucius Malfoy wouldn't be so bad on the Hogsmeade attack. About the Hogsmeade attack. I'm holding down the fort at Hogwarts, but I've got a couple worries about the attack. I'm pretty sure that they have wind of it, especially since Snape was a double agent (who would've known, huh?). Anyway, is there someway of keeping the attack on without targeting Hogsmeade? Some kind of trickery, aye? Yeah, I need something clever to write into headquarters and I need your help. Give me a little boost okay, you can't have credit for all your good ideas right?_

_Missing You Always,_

_Blaise _ 

            Ginny considered for a moment. Everyone in Hogsmeade. How could they possibly…? And then it hit her. All the power would be in Hogsmeade. If they sent a small artillery to distract the people in Hogsmeade, make them think that they were completely unprepared, while the bulk went out to Hogwarts.  

                 Or even better, why not desert Hogsmeade until they come running to the castle and find that everyone was back on the Hogsmeade side of things? She prepared a small note mentally, throwing out a couple of ideas and accumulating a few more. She could write them on the way to Azkaban, and use Draco's eagle owl to mail them, later. She pulled open the next one, in the familiar spidery scrawl that she had seen more than her own in her first year. As usual he didn't specify to who it was addressed and he showed no discretion in the case of the letter being intercepted, but that was his way, that had always been his way.

_I fear for the attack on Hogsmeade and the recent betrayal. You were quick to respond and quick to kill, which I appreciate. I do hate those who muddle about with torture when it is unnecessary. Quite fun, perhaps, but a dangerous sport when time is an issue. Now that that bumbling fool is out of the way (Snape, not Dumbledore, if only it were that bumbling fool we would be in the clear) I can reinstate someone in the position of the potions teacher. I have someone in mind that no one would ever possibly suspect, but I won't say the name here, because I don't want you to know, because I don't want that little blonde rat to know, meaning that everyone will know. But I suppose you'll figure it out when you go in on that lovely Monday and there will be nice smells in that dank dungeon and incense (disgusting) but following around with your new set of ideas, I'm letting things have a more feminine touch. _

            He was rambling. She hated when he rambled.

_Anyway, I'm sure you'll see. I'd appreciate your input, I'm expecting an owl back from that little tart at Hogwarts. A brilliant mind. You know the one, you're her little advocate, oh she is so smart and you need women, don't abuse the women. Well, I've done my little bit and er- _

            Oh Merlin. She hated when he dictated to a Quick Quotes Quill even more. 

_Anyway, I gave someone a message to give to you, they'll be seeing you. You can go down anytime, anywhere and they'll find you. I suppose I could have just mailed the message to you in this letter, but isn't it fun never knowing when you'll get a little hand delivered telegram from someone. Oh and this someone is shape-shifter, so watch her wand, not her body. Tricky little blighter, with a little work in the Ministry, and Gringotts, but always wanted to be a teacher. So there you go. I've got to go have lunch with my subjects. Which is always a bore and my least favorite thing, but we might out to torture some Muggles or something later. _

Ginny shook her head. Draco had told her, when she had showed him one of the odder letters that he sent out, that he dictated to a quill to save time, something Draco had seen him do once or twice before his father was put in jail. It explained a lot and showed something about the way he liked to move around constantly, something she had picked up on without ever actually meeting him. The third letter was in another familiar scrawl, but one that she saw every day and forged continuously when he was late in Quidditch practice and detention got too demanding to do everything he could. She recognized it as more neatly written than the notes he scrolled in study hours.

_Gin, Do you still want to come? If you come by tomorrow, we'll be leaving in the afternoon and you can tell me if you got help. I don't know the time exactly, but I've got an idea of two so send me an owl or Floo to my house or whatever. The floo code isn't Malfoy Manor. It's Freesia Dandelion, my father figured that would be the last thing anyone would think of in the Malfoy Manor, so just come, alright? I really want you to help me and I really want to see you. _

_I love you,_

_Draco_

Ginny had a guilty shiver, before stuffing the letter into her pocket. Her breath billowed out in fog, and she pretended, like she had when she was little girl, that she was smoking cigarettes like the models in the magazines her mother used to pick up. The ones that didn't move. She sashayed her hips and giggled a little, unsure of what she was doing. She was promised to the dark lord, but she had a boyfriend. She had a boyfriend, but she had just slept with his worst enemy, the person who should be her worst enemy. It was all very confusing.

She wasn't sure what she should do about Harry. It had been the right thing she was sure, almost sure. It took away the temptation of Draco a little, made it less forbidden to sleep with him, simply because she had already broken her unspoken vow to the Dark Lord and slept with someone. Whether she took that step tonight or when they returned to school, she wasn't sure. She knew, however, that he would need comfort tonight, above all, and she wasn't sure what form he wanted.

She also had to keep her parents from worrying, a hard thing when she would be spending the day breaking the most infamous prisoner out of Azkaban when she was supposed to be strolling the village. It would have huge coverage, and so she would need an alibi. She knew someone who would probably give it to her, if she asked, and blackmailed  a little. A little more assured, and approaching the village, she skidded down the little path and had to stifle a shriek as Wormtail jumped out of the bushes.

"I've got a Portkey here, you can go to Malfoy Manor. It'll respond to your touch and then you can go."

"Aren't you coming with?" She asked. "I need help."

"Oh, right." Wormtail slapped his forehead. "Polyjuice Potion." He handed her two vials.

"What for?"

"You'll take the shape of Lucius and Lucius will take your shape and leave."

"How do I leave?" Ginny asked desperately.

"The Death Eaters will swoop down and carry you away, but you'll be home in bed." Wormtail explained, checking the instructions he seemed to have clutched in his fist. "All this is for is giving you an alibi, otherwise we would do it just a good ol' attack on Azkaban, which we've been planning for awhile."

"Have you? Are there a lot of plans that just aren't going through?" Ginny asked quizzically, Wormtail blanched.

"No, not at all. There are just some things that slip down the list, milady."

            "Don't." She said sharply. "How do I know that Lucius won't kill all of my family members in their sleep?"

            "He'll be under the Imperius until he's returned home for good. That way he'll remember to take his potion and everything." He flipped open a box from his pocket that contained a smooth, metal ball. It gleamed a little as Ginny slipped the vials into her purse and held out her hand. The ball slipped into her hand vibrating, as she felt a strong pull behind her navel and she was carried away, worries and fears rocketing alongside.    

Thank Yous! I've been really pleased with the reviews that I've been getting. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to Leuca, Oceanbleu89, moony-blues, Wizzabee, Miss Melancholy, aurora59, Jessica, glaurificus 

Now to those of you who asked questions. Here you go:

Keita: Thanks for all the reviews, you're a goddess

C.L. Rhodes : Thanks for the advice. I'll try and fix the story up a little bit, add a little bit more clarity

Skotos: I hate most portrayals of Draco in fics too, he certainly acts evil in the books and like he wants to follow in his father's footsteps. Thanks for the review.

Killtheposeurs: Toast! (Holds up peach pie filling)

Tonia Barone: hope you enjoy these little changes. And the pairings and everything have a huge thing to do with the dynamic of the story. You will see.

Aurora Noctifer: Glad you like the story. I've always hated the way that the whole Slytherin group seems to resolve around making everyone's life miserable instead of working together towards a common goal, which seems more logical. There common goal is a little iffy, but there you go.


	9. Azkaban Attack

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter or any related material, no infringement is intended on my part.  
  
A/n Alright, I hate this chapter everyone, but it has to be done. I just have to post something.  
Ginny's feet landed unsteadily and she barely stayed standing as she knocked into a wall. A house elf stuck its head around, where the hallway turned. She looked around as it disappeared again with a squeak. The wallpaper was dark green laced with silver; she saw snakes shimmering through it, giving it an odd glimmer. The carpets looked silky soft, the same shade of green. There were little tables of deep shining mahogany posed outside of doorways down the hall, polish instruments and baubles buzzing upon them. The doors were the same, a curled snake made of the doorknob, an open mouth peeking out so you could insert the key between the fangs. It was lighted by electrically charged snakes, slithering constantly on the ceiling, they seemed to be making a circle, and the speed was so even that the light barely flickered. She gasped in awe as she remembered the words of Voldemort and later, Draco. I could give you grand things. She checked the vials and made to find her way down the hall, before house elf rounded the corner again, with Draco in tow.  
"Draco! Did you hear?" She wrapped her arms around him and he rocked her back and forth.  
"Was it hard?"  
"It was so hard. I've never done anything like that before, but... can we go somewhere to talk?" She glanced around as though someone were listening in, even though she could say what she wanted to say without worrying in a house as dark as this was. He wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked comfortably alongside each other. They walked along the hallway for a time that it would take her to run up the stairs of her house and back again three times. Finally, they entered a room that made the air drop from her lungs in a heavy huff. It was a ballroom, reaching as high as Hogwarts, with big windows and painted motifs on the ceilings of grand wizards and duels. The whole thing was lined with archways, the same mahogany carved into snakes forming arches. Their floor was entirely black marble.  
"The heart of our home. We almost never use any of it. Just more for the house elves to do, I guess. Woe betide them if a room not seen in a decade by anyone except my mother have a spot of dust. " He shrugged. He led her to a sprawling staircase of green carpet (snake banisters, surprise, surprise), that started out fairly narrowed until it tapered off more widely until it swept across most of the hall. They walked up it and down another hallway to a grand door. Draco opened it and let her inside his room, which was equally grand in silver, green and black. "What do you want to say?" She set her purse on his desk, feeling shabby in the beautiful grandeur. He seemed to notice. "Shall we get you dressed before you meet mother?"  
"Um..." She mumbled, but he had already flicked a bell next to his bed, raised on platform that you had to climb several stairs to get to. A house elf appeared.  
"Dress Miss Weasley in the finest you can conjure, and if she doesn't like it, get real gown robes." The elf, its hands crackling with magic studied her for a moment, pressing on her hips and legs and up as far as it could reach around her waist.  
"Missus must bend down so Bunky can dress her." The elf squeaked. Ginny obeyed and he grabbed her shoulders. She suddenly felt heavy was having trouble breathing. The elf stepped back. "What does Missus think?" She spun around and found a mirror. She could barely breath with delight, though it may have been because she was suddenly wearing a corset and a huge green gown, ornately stitched with silver. She blushed a little. She looked beautiful. "Missus is pleased?"  
"I'm very pleased, thank you." She looked at Draco for his approval, which showed in his loose jaw and glazed eyes. "That's all now." The elf looked to Draco, who composed himself and nodded. "Draco, can we talk now?" He nodded and she climbed the little stairs to the platform where his bed lay. She flopped down flat, unable to sit; she was feeling a little light headed.  
"So, you killed Snape?"  
"Did Blaise tell you?"  
"Yes."  
"I figured that she would." Ginny said softly. "She saw how I really was, but I hope neither of you would let it get out. I was an emotional wreck. But I really did it for a while, really pulled it off. Cool, cruel, calculating. Totally emotionless. And then I got home and I collapsed and all I wanted to do was something normal, something that girls my age were doing on the first night of break." Draco crawled beside of the bed and pulled her back to his stomach. "But instead I killed someone. But now I've had a day to mull over it, to relive it every time I blink. And I know what that power is now. That power that could make me kill again and not shed a tear over it. That could let someone writhe on the ground while I laugh. You ever been to the department of mysteries?"  
"Huh? In the ministry of magic?" He lifted his head and kissed her on the head.  
"Yeah. I went there in my fourth year. And we came to this place and there was an archway on a dais a lot like the one that your bed is on. And there was this black, tattered curtain. I could hear voices behind it, but they were people that hadn't died yet. They were talking to me and they told me... they told me that I had killed them. It was amazing."  
"Yeah?"  
"That's when my resolve really strengthened and I knew that I could do it. Before I was sort of walking in a dream, debating good and evil, living in a world of grey."  
"How poetic." Draco said dryly. He didn't look at her and she felt him tense behind her.  
"What the hell is wrong with you Draco?" Ginny was hurt.  
"Nothing, I'm just glad to see you."  
"I'm glad to see you, too." She said contentedly settling back down, although both were still held firmly tense.  
"That's just the night my father was arrested."  
"That's right. So many things happened that night." She sat back. "Sirius died, all those death eaters arrested. We'll get them out, Draco. You'll have your father back by tomorrow." He stirred a little.  
"Tomorrow?"  
"I'm going with you, we're going to take polyjuice potion, he'll be put under Imperius curse and go back to my house, where he'll be controlled all night, until he returns in the morning to your house and I go back to my house. They'll come get a grand attack on the prison tonight."  
"Why don't they just attack the prison and leave you out of this?"  
"I need an alibi."  
"Why do you even have to be involved at all?"  
"Do you have a better plan? I need to be comfortable within in this environment, introduce myself to seasoned Death Eaters, so they know that I'm serious and reliable and dependable." "Most of them don't know that you're going to be queen." "That I'm planning on being queen." She sighed. "Having second thoughts?" "Not at all. There are just plenty of people that are going to want me out of that position. Someone young and inexperienced from the biggest blood- traitors of all. Anyway, Draco, what happened to our wonderful carefree conversations?" "They were all just a couple of days ago. They'll pick up again once things calm down a little, get back to school." "I know, I almost miss detention." "Course you do. Make-out sessions in the showers." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Who wouldn't miss long sweaty runs around the lake? I bet you could learn to love it." He said softly. She turned around and looked him in the eye. "Gin?" "Let's not talk, okay, Draco?" He complied with a smile as she lay back with her lips slightly parted. He paused for a moment and took her in. "I love you, Ginny." "Shh. Draco. No talking." She said desperately.  
Ginny was shaking with cold by the time they got to the prison. Draco draped his cloak around her shoulders. She had needed to change out of the gown to leave, but had come in Muggle clothes. Narcissa, with an eyebrow raised, had given her thick black robes to wear. "You have Muggle clothes?" She said. "I find it important to maintain the image that I don't hate Muggles." Ginny said stiffly. "Especially with the break out planned with Lucius, you would do well to mirror that behavior, Madam Malfoy." "That law you abolished was useful. I remember how hard it was approaching the Dark Lord when he was still in power before I married Lucius." "Some laws are out of fashion." She shook her head. "But I don't want to talk about politics, we have something to do, we're drawing close to the deadline." "Yes, you're right." Narcissa shook her pretty blonde head and smiled a little, Draco noticed Ginny had gotten a little nudge of approval from his mother, who was a big element in the group of seasoned death eater wives. "Shall we then?"  
  
Lucius Malfoy, as Ginny remembered him, was a man with sleek blond hair and an elegant demeanor. The man before her, a patchy beard smudged across his chin was someone quite different. His cool grey eyes were clouded with trouble, when she met them she delved into his mind without intending to, pulling back as images trickled into her own. "Miss Weasley." He shook a little as he sat on his bed, pulling back his long dirty hair into Muggle elastic. "I always knew you. I saw right through you and knew that you would be the one."  
"Lucius, you're not in your right mind." Narcissa said softly. "Who is the one you speak of, surely not-?"  
"Narcissa!" He held up his hand, quivering next to his ear. "I always knew that she was dark inside. I slipped that diary into her hands and she worked wonders. She is beauty." He reached towards her, she steeled her gaze and tried her best not to step away, but a pale hand, soft and cool looking, reached out and grabbed onto Lucius' squeezing hard in spots Ginny recognized as pressure points.  
"You must forgive him." Narcissa was talking to Ginny, but kept her eyes on Lucius, twisting under her firm grasp. "He has been in isolation far too long."  
"Narcissa, please." He rasped. "Wife." Narcissa yelped as his hand lit up, remnants of magic flaring from him and scorching her hand a little. She clasped it tightly to her body not uttering a sound of pain even as guard was on the spot right away. Ginny pulled the hood of her cloak up and didn't say anything, keeping her eyes averted, hair hidden, and head down.  
"It was me, I'm so sorry. I've just been getting a little upset." Narcissa's lip quivered and she grabbed on to the guard's arm. "You must think me ridiculous, but it is still hard for me finding out my husband was so immersed in..." Her voice lowered audibly and the guard leaned until her lips were near his ear. "The Dark Arts." She even managed a tear, and Ginny sighed, impressed. She hoped she would be able to do that someday. The guard led Narcissa away, who was still shaking a little. She looked back and mouthed the word, quickly, disappearing around the corner with the guard who was asking her to fill out an accident report. Ginny drew the polyjuice from her pockets, yanking out a hair of hers and stuffing it into the bigger vial. It turned violet. Draco leaned over, and explaining to his father what was going on, yanked out one of Lucius' hair. Ginny took off her robes quickly, knowing she could not rip them. Father and son watched in mild interest, she took a small gulp of the grey mixture from a single vial. She corked it and forced it into her purse before she dropped it. She dropped onto all fours and rolled around in the sensation, not sure what was changing, but knowing it was utterly bizarre. Her bender's magical knot untied and flopped to the floor, glimmering with white magic. She finally stood, walking unsurely on the new feet. Draco helped his father dress and helped Ginny into her robes. He let Lucius drink a little and Ginny watched in amazement as she appeared, looking haughty and a little crazy. Her eyes rolled around a little and she stumbled, falling into her own arms and knocking herself over, as Lucius too, grew accustomed to the new gait. She helped put the bender on Lucius, making Draco turn around, before tying on Narcissa's robes. The guard and Narcissa were returning just as they finished. Draco pulled on Ginny's cloak and hid her, hiding the red hair under the hood. Ginny flopped onto the bed, trying to look mad. Lucius was having trouble walking, Draco had to drag him. The guard looked suspiciously towards them. "She's so traumatized by this. I'm sorry. Lucius was a mentor of hers." Narcissa cooed, quietly wooing the guard, who closed and locked the doors with his wand. "You do that so easily." "Yeah, all the guards' wands open up the cells." "That's so fascinating. You must lead such an interesting life." Narcissa purred coyly. "I'd love to hear more." "Really? Well, you'll get a minute, we'll need to keep you while they search your husband." "You surely don't think that we would give him anything now do you?" Narcissa looked beyond wounded. "No ma'am, but high security prisoners like Malfoy have been known to do sneaky things like steal wands." Ginny, with a shout of panic spurred by the drop in her stomach, shot forward to the bars. The guard turned in slight alarm hearing her crash against the bars. "The man's crazy..." She heard Narcissa say. "Don't drop the soap, Dad." Draco said stiffly, looking melancholy. He hauled Lucius up again and hobbled down the hall. The bars her fists were wrapped around were cool, buzzing with magic against prisoners who got angry enough to not require a wand. Suddenly, she panicked. She had left her polyjuice in her purse. "Guard! Guard!" She screamed fiercely, amazed at how raw her voice was. A man appeared casually around the corner. "The people, that just were visiting me, they have something that I need desperately." "What could you possibly need? They've been searched and they didn't have anything you would need desperately. Like a wand." He said saucily, banging his own against her bars. She knocked her hands furiously against her barriers, if she had her wand this minute the man would be singing a different tune. "Malfoy shut up before I use my privileges and curse you to next Sunday." She stepped back, a little frightened, she was completely unarmed. He opened the cell and shoved her over onto the bed. "Take off your robes." Ginny stripped them off. Was he going to rape her? The man pointed his wand at her and sjavascript:void(0)aid a spell she didn't recognize. She didn't think anything had happened until she looked down and her body was completely clear. Her organs, Lucius' organs, pumped within her body. The guard circled her carefully. "Good, nothing swallowed recently and no wand up the ass. You've just improved my day. I hate retrieving the fucking things. Robes back on." "Will you just tell those people that I won't be myself if they don't bring my potion back? You know the one the healer gave to me when he was in here last week?" She hoped that the doctor's visit wasn't some mad mutterings. The guard looked up promptly as she casually pulled the robes back on and collapsed onto the bed, ready for a nap. "Ah shit, Malfoy! You know what the healer said would happen if you didn't have that." The guard tore off. "That dumb shit in 450 let his family take his Soothing Solution. Yes, he administers it himself! Catch the family just in case someone let them leave." So they had to give Lucius soothing solution? Ginny guessed, as she sat back down, that you couldn't keep a good man down. She thought to the images she had seen in Lucius, mad crusades against Muggles and the planning afterwards. What they could do better until they committed the perfect murder. A moment here that was a moment too long, a little less of one spell and a little more of this. She had understood the precision of killing before, but was now learning the mind of a murderer was a truly complex one. Draco ran back, with her purse swinging suddenly. He handed her the vial and she leaned forward for a kiss. "I'm sorry, it's just too weird." He panted. "Right." She tried not to sound hurt. "See you soon!" "Don't get yourself killed. You're so brave, Gin. So brave. I love you." "I know. And Draco you're loads braver than me." He didn't answer, flashing around the corner. She sat down on the bed, staring at her watch, feeling abandoned and lost. Lucius Malfoy had been in solitary confinement for almost two years, and now, moments after Draco had left, she felt as though she had been alone a life time.  
  
Her hands were numb and her breath was short as she jolted awake, taking a swallow, unsure how long she had been sleeping this time. Was this true loyalty? Being a mad convict, the most important servant to the dark lord, falling to her knees and gasping for breath every hour as the robes started to pool around the floor and her arms shrunk back into the sleeves, freckles prickling across her face. Then she was coughing with the strong potion, which was starting to run a little low, her robes tightened and her shoulders broadened, her hands smooth and thick, and the sun sunk continually until it sparked green at the horizon. "Where are they?" She muttered to herself, standing up and beginning to pace. Her hands were covered in a brisk sweat she wiped them against her thighs only to find her legs damp and trembling beneath her robes. She had two hours left in the vial, what would she do? The door to her cell slid open and she looked up, she hadn't even noticed someone come in. The guard smiled and she looked into his eyes and shivered a little at the man's obsession with power, but cowardly pursuits of its fulfillments. He set a tray in front of her with bland looking food.  
"Hungry, Malfoy?" She nodded and plucked up the fork. "You threatening me, Malfoy?" She dropped it onto the tray. "You callin' me a liar?" What was he talking about, fucking American? She attempted another look into his eyes and was met with a strong back hand that threw her and her dinner against the far wall. She crouched on the floor and gasped a little. If only she had her wand. But she didn't and decided to try the strength of Malfoy's body. The guard looked a little surprised at her sudden retaliation as she vaulted across the chamber, but he lifted up his wand and stopped her in midair. "Bad idea, Malfoy." He raised his wand again, but his eyes widened and he dropped to the ground twitching, inches from screaming. Ginny's cushy seat in the air was abruptly taken away, but she attempted to stay standing wavering only a little on her feet. She turned around and, keeping the guard in her view, smiled at the Dark Lord.  
His skin was gray and translucent from the sun he hadn't seen. His nose fanned out into two slit nostrils. Beautiful maroon irises gave room to cat-like pupils. As Ginny looked into his mind, she found not pictures but a fizzling purple shape in the back, that she could see only when she was concentrating so fully on him. He reached out a long spidery hand to her and she took it, throwing her head back and pouting her lips. Although she was in Malfoy's body, she hoped she came across as a queen. "Guards will come soon; detecting the dark magic on their poor little..." he laid his foot across the guard's head and leaned down. "Puppet. Do you feel as though you had the imperius curse, however light, placed upon you?"  
Ginny took a quick inventory, nodding a little. Her head was floating in clouds and her face, which had been burning from the slap she had received from the guard, was soft and cool. "That, my love, is why we enjoy inflicting the curse so much, because it takes away our pain." He reached around and brushed a lock of blonde hair from her face. "And we do feel pain, love. We can't let it out any other way than our wand, because we're stronger than those who are foolish enough to wear their hearts on their sleeves."  
"Yes, my lord." Lord Voldemort cocked his head.  
"At last. This sod would go insane in a few minutes if they didn't show up and save him. Perhaps they were attending to the little disasters in other parts of the prison." He pulled something from his robes and handed them to her. "Your wand, once and future queen." She whirled it around in her fingers finally she could do something useful.  
"This is my wand, my lord." She said as the clattering of feet also came into her range of her hearing. "No unforgivables."  
"Yes." He said lifting his wand away from the guard and kicking him into the wall, where he killed him quickly just as the other guards came vaulting around the corners from various sides. Ginny lifted her wand and went into immediate action. She shot a spell she had used on Draco, which restricted breathing as if all your ribs were cracked. She whirled around and leaned back as a spell came chasing towards her. She knocked him out and hit the guard behind her with a consuming spell. The guard went down crawling with flames, and quick wittedly put an extinguishing spell on herself before struggling to her feet, already covered in third degree burns. Ginny had already taken out four others who were flopping on the ground for various reasons. She would take care of them later. She had realized before the whole point of this raid. Leave no survivors; give them no opportunity to get aurors or any other kind of back up, which she assumed the others were taking care of. Gather as many prisoners for their side as possible, a newly free man was a loyal man. Today, Ginny would get used to the idea of killing, and she would get used to it quickly. She admired the woman's bravery as she struggled to raise her wand, but another consuming spell knocked her off her feet and left her burning quickly into nothing on the ground. The man struggling to breath was hit again and ceased breathing completely. She hit a man in the abdomen with an effect she didn't remember, but surfaced to the top of her mind. She looked away quickly, but heard him screaming as his body began to turn itself inside out. There was a quick, easy spell that they used to kill prisoners. It severed the spinal cord in the neck. She hit about four people with that, checking them quickly to make sure they were dead as the Dark Lord finished off the last person with a quick Avada Kedavra. Ginny took a quick swig of polyjuice, realizing she had no idea how much time had gone by. "Very good, Queen." The dark lord surveyed the circle of damage that was around Ginny. "Hurt?" "I didn't get hit once." She said proudly. "Excellent. Shall we?" He pointed her in one direction and he started the other way. She started jogging, and then headed back. She picked up all of the guards' wands. She came along to one of the cells and opened it. A man sat cowering in a corner and looked to her. "I give you your freedom if you fight for the Dark Lord in this battle." The man stood up with surprising agility. "Gladly." She threw him one of the wands. "Release more of the prisoners, if they protest, close the doors." He nodded and moved past her. She collected all of the prisoners in the hall, just as the man did. It seemed that even with the dementors gone; the prisoners still desired freedom over morality. She came along a guard and, using one of the wands that wasn't her own stuck into her back pocket, put crucio on him and relishing the power let him off fairly quickly. He started to crawl away, crying hysterically. She curled her lip and shot him down with a flash of green. It was easier when she wasn't using her own wand. She continued releasing prisoners. Along various hallways and twists and turns, she hurtled. She knocked out various guards with the killing curse, quickly losing track of the numbers she was disposing of. She finally found her way back to the main hallway and saw a door ajar. She knocked it open and saw a man crawling towards a fire, burning with floo powder. She set her foot on his back and pressed down. He groaned and looked at her. "Anyone else leave through this exit?" "Help." He gurgled. She kicked him over, a little repulsed as she saw the injuries inflicted on him. "I don't think I can let you do that." She leaned towards him. "Maybe if you tell me whether anyone else when through that fire to wherever it is you might be going." "No one." He pleaded, tears starting to leak down his face. "No one." He grabbed onto her hand and blood slicked across her hands. "Please, please." He grabbed onto the wand in her hand and pressed it to his neck. "No more. No one." She let him go quickly, but grabbed his dog tags from his neck and put them around her own, extinguishing the fire and making a mess of the instruments. She wiped her hands on her robes and sealed the door, and it was the last time she felt regret for a long time.  
"Anything to eat, Ginny?" Arthur asked anxiously. She was acting very oddly, but Dumbledore warned them that for a little while she would. "Gee whiz, I'm swell, Pop." She said cheerfully. "You're sure?" "Ah, maybe you've talked me into some of those delicious looking potatoes." She smiled even more widely. Everyone at the table looked down at the beef casserole on the table and the corn next to it. There were no potatoes in sight. "Molly, are you sure that she isn't being possessed again? She was out all afternoon." Arthur said cautiously into his wife's ear. "Arthur, Dumbledore said to maintain a cautious, but normal approach to having her recover from this. She needed to go on the walk to get her art supplies. She came back with them, and she has been very happy, if not a little odd. We shouldn't have expected this after her adverse reaction to possession last time." Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his daughter smiled at a spot over his shoulder. Her face contorted suddenly, but it turned into a yawn abruptly. "I'm tired." Ginny said, standing up and stumbling towards the stairs. They heard a few crashes and came out to see her standing up as if she hadn't just walked into a wall. "Still a little disoriented." Molly whispered to Arthur. "I'm calling Dumbledore." Arthur said. "This is getting too unusual. She never acted like this before." "It would make me feel better," Molly admitted. Arthur moved toward the living room and Molly climbed the stairs to sit down by her daughter while she pulled on her nightgown backwards and climbed into bed with her feet on the pillows. Molly hauled her up and righted her jammies and let her head drift back onto her pillows. "Ginny, darling?" "Mummy?" Her eyes slit open and she smiled a little. "Darling how do you feel?" "I was scared before, but now I'm alright, I promise." "You're so brave." Molly kissed her forehead. "Do you feel feverish?" "No, just tired. Maybe it would be best if I just went to sleep." She kissed her mother and hummed a little." Molly recognized the tune and began to cry. Ginny didn't seem to notice, rolling over towards the wall and falling into deep sleep. "Molly." Arthur stood at the door. "Come down with me and we'll reach Dumbledore together. Don't you worry about a thing. Ginny's sleeping now, we'll keep checking on her. She'll be alright. It's probably nothing." "You're right, Arthur. I just... I just don't know. I don't want this war another day, I want my children to be safe and my mind at ease. That's all I've ever wanted." "Come on, love." Arthur crossed the room and pulled Molly to her feet. He kissed her gently on the forehead. "Downstairs and we'll have a word to Dumbledore and he'll clear all this up." Molly brushed a lock of hair from her daughter's sweaty forehead and walked out of the room, taking the light with her and shutting the door quietly. Ginny opened her eyes and handed the wand back to Wormtail. "You fool! What kind of vision did you have of my family life to think that my parents would react normally to 'Gee whiz, I'm swell, Dad'? Put Lucius in deeper sleep and keep him there until we can figure something out. They're calling Dumbledore because of your blunder, which means that something else must be done as far as Lucius' current location." Ginny shook her head angrily at the trembling man in front of her. She swept away quickly out of the room and down a hallway that her feet had never touched before, but her mind had followed a million times. Draco had been slumped over at a couch in the corridor, but hearing footsteps, he stood and grabbed onto Ginny's arm. "Hey." "Hey, Draco." She started walking and he clutched onto her in tow. "How're you feeling?" He asked quietly. "Strangely, I'm doing fine. Yourself?" She whirled him around and kissed him on the tip of the nose. "I don't know yet." "Well, I have some things right now that I have to do. Go home and get some rest and I'll try to join you if I can." She kissed him gently. "Bye." "Goodbye then." He turned and started off down the hall in the opposite direction. She paused and watched him for a moment before turning around again and heading for the meeting room where she knew Voldemort would be. She opened the door quietly. "My lord?" He turned and looked at her thoughtfully. "I tolerate your useless infatuation at your school where your little hormonal urges seem to dictate your every move, but I will not tolerate it in headquarters where it makes a fool of us, the Malfoy estate and the entire movement." "Yes, my lord, it will never happen again... in headquarters." She smiled a little and gave a jerk of the head. "See that it doesn't." He smiled. "Or next time it will be the boy's life that pays." "Yes, my lord. It's only fair." She nodded to him and bowed a little. "What I came to talk to you about regards Lucius' current coordinates." She gulped a little but continued on. "If I may be frank, I had warned you against Wormtail's abilities. He made a fool of Lucius who had begun fighting the spell in earnest, but I took over and managed to coax Lucius into sleep. Against my better judgment I turned over the reins to Wormtail again, but in his deep sleep Lucius will be unable to drink the potion which is essential to our ploy working. I ask that Lucius be pulled out of the location and a more fit agent be put in. Or maybe I should return home, also against my better judgment." "That was very frank indeed." Ginny held her breath at his icy tone. "And very true." She let it out quietly so he wouldn't detect her discomfort at being around him in person finally. "Shall we kill Wormtail?" "No. He is still a tool and even the rustiest tool has its use." "Very good. I have a shape shifter or two in my ranks, one of them can be disposed to the Weasley residence. Of course under a controlling spell by one of my better agents." "We'll let Wormtail clean out the toilets. No wand." Ginny joked. "We shall see." Voldemort glanced at her as though she were crazy. Ginny shifted uncomfortably. She put on her shelf of experience that Voldemort couldn't take a joke. "What shall I do now?" "You are still a little known weapon, and after the jolt that was Snape, well, we shall be more cautious about our more valuable treasures." He touched her hair and lifted it to his nose, inhaling deeply. "I have much work to do; otherwise I would request that you spend this night with me. However, I turn you to your infatuation." "No more work?" She said sadly. Tired though she was, being in headquarters, dishing out orders to those who knew her worth and future position, remembering the power that surged out of her wand was deeply satisfying and she was reluctant to let that go. She put her hand to her chest and felt, in between her breasts, a wand she had stolen to perform illegal spells, and the dog tags. "You've had a trying first day. I could not have expected you to perform better than you did." He smiled at her warmly. "I am proud of you. You fight... it was amazing to watch. I was in awe." Ginny smiled self indulgently. "You ain't seen nothing yet." She said in an American accent, leaving the room. She whirled along the corridors on clouds but noises abruptly made her grab her illegal wand from her robes and point it at a man who she recognized as the one who had brought her the message. "You." She said. She glanced at the strange green wand. "Me." He chuckled. "If I could kill you now..." "You would enjoy it, wouldn't you? But no, I'm about to save your life and your alibi." The man seemed a little too happy at the prospect. "Shape-shifter?" She glanced at the wand again, memorizing it. She looked into the eyes and shuddered as images trickled back into her mind. "Fl- forgive me then. A thousand apologies." "I accept. Now, don't dally. Get to wherever it is that you were going and forget about everything. We know where you are." The man paused and let the words gain gravity. "In case we need you. But I hardly think so, princess." Blaise was snoring when Ginny shook her awake. "Hey, you're back. I decided to Floo over to Malfoy Manor and see you. Draco!" She yawned and kicked Draco awake in an armchair. He sat up. "We've got some Muggle music and the bottle of eternal Ogden's upstairs." She paused a moment at the thought of a party. "First, I need food. I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm about to faint." She followed Draco to the kitchen. He rummaged around in a cupboard saying he didn't want to bother the house elves. Ginny and Blaise exchanged a smile behind his back. "I heard that." He produced a container full of cold turkey meat, light white bread and mustard. He handed her those and scurried across the kitchen for a knife and fork and plates. He pulled out jugs of milk and pumpkin juice and set them at the wide kitchen table. Ginny observed the kitchen with rapid comfort. The table had been hit by knives and the décor was white and sterile, not at all elegant. The house elves were the only ones to ever come in here, made apparent by Draco's long search for silverware, and although it was sterile, it was still homey. She started to make sandwiches handing one first to Draco, then to Blaise, and finally laid onto hers with great zest. She started pulling out her wand and making it do simple spells over and over again. "What're you doing that for?" Blaise asked thickly, trying to pull a piece of turkey into her mouth using only her teeth, and smearing herself with mustard. "I cast about fifty dark spells before I started using another wand. I have to get them out of the wand's system." She said, shrugging. "Kind of stupid I guess, but I really don't want these dark spells on the surface of my spell history." "Guess so." Blaise shrugged. "But I have a question. This is something that's been worrying me. What effect is this attack going to have on the Hogsmeade attack?" "Everyone thinks stronger resistance, but I think weaker. I don't have an exact idea of how we're going to pull it off fooling the order and all, but see, they don't expect continual attacks. They know about the Hogsmeade attack of course, but at the same time, wouldn't it be foolish to think that you would have received good intelligence on an attack of smaller scale at a later date rather than large scale at an earlier date. My theory is that they're going to put less effort into the Hogsmeade attack and be more on the lookout for something going on under the surface of the attack. I'll find out more from my parents but at the same time, how do you take advantage of something like that? If you strike Hogsmeade with full force you don't get your original goal which was to clear out and identify and capture Order of the Phoenix agents, nor do you launch another attack because their attention will already be focused on other ploys. "Anyway, I'm tired out talking business. Let's go party." She grinned. They climbed the stairs to Draco's room and Blaise started the music while Draco took a good pull at the Eternal Ogden's. Blaise had some and they turned to pass it on to Ginny, only to find her fast asleep in Draco's bed. Blaise turned off the music and Draco climbed the stairs to his bed, watching Ginny breath. "We should stay awake just in case headquarters calls back and says that they need her." Blaise observed. Draco nodded, he brushed a lock of hair from Ginny's forehead, and turned off the lights, leaving the room quietly.  
  
TA DA! Another chapter churned out. And I apologize because it was after all, a very bad one. But what the hell. A few beautiful readers asked me to post and I delivered. So here are the thank you s to those beautiful and curious readers: 


	10. Aftermath

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any related material. So don't sue me, please.

            The soft clink of china as Ginny set down her strong earl grey made Narcissa look up. "I'll send you home in a moment, Ginny, dear." She paused. "What you've done so far is brave and I respect that. You are a powerful and persuasive witch. I respect that. The dark lord looks upon you in higher esteem then I've ever seen him put upon anyone. I respect that. And as little as you may think of parenting within the dark methods, I _do_ care about my son and I cannot respect you jerking and twisting him around and putting his life in danger."

            Ginny took another sip of tea. Narcissa had conveyed no emotion thus far and Ginny would strive to do the same. "Where am I supposed to go from here, Madam Malfoy? I've killed innumerable people in the last few days, one of whom was the strongest double agent for the Order of the Phoenix. I also know that you were fucking him on the side. That's embarrassing, I know. I also know he wasn't the one sending letters to my brothers. But he was a liability and I don't tolerate liabilities. So don't become one.

" It's nice having power lying next to you every night, except that men of power run around on their wives and you don't see much of them unless they want to produce an heir. But you have to put on your face and a beautiful gown and clutch his arm while you greet other men who are out fucking anything without a voice and their wives who don't happen to have a voice and your husband eyes them and gives them a tour of the estate at least twice in the course of your banquet that took two months to arrange." Narcissa was still composed, but the glass was shaking on the saucer as her knuckles whitened. Ginny smirked.

"It's also nice to have a friendly little fellow to fall back on. The kind of guy that likes pillow talk and foreplay. For you that was Severus Snape. I like to think that in all that friendly pillow talk, his situation never came up. And I'm going to keep thinking that, unless you give me a reason not to. I don't know how you did it, but you raised Draco to be strong, good, humane man. So he gets to be second fiddle to some schmuck with a fast wand. But I don't think of him as second fiddle to anybody. Just like you would've liked a greasy black head on your pillow over that power any day. Me too. You and I are similar creatures." Suddenly out of the fireplace stumbled Lucius Malfoy, leering.

"Ah, Narcissa, my wife." He drew in a deep breath and twirled his wand like a baton, tucking it into his robes. "Miss Weasley." He picked up one of her hands and laid two cold lips upon the surface. "A pleasure, and may I thank you for the spectacular rescue."

"You may thank everyone for that rescue. I'm small potatoes to what the Death Eaters did today."

"May I take you for a tour of the house? It's quite lovely and I'd love to get reacquainted with it."

"Mmm. I understand" She smiled at Narcissa. "What time is it just now?"

"Almost midnight." She said sweetly from her chair, where she had not risen.

"Ooh. Lucius." Ginny shrugged. "Isn't that just the luck? I need to go home and secure my alibi, you see, they've called Albus Dumbledore and I need to be able to speak without fumbling and I'm not yet skilled with my voice using Imperius curse."

"Your voice will come with time." He smiled at her and she gave him her most winning back.

            "I know."

                                                                                                                                                    "I put you to bed not fifteen minutes ago." Draco slurred.

            "I know, love. But it's work, work, and work for me. Never a moment's rest. But I've got to go by Portkey now to my room. They've sent the word that it's clear and we just moved our man out of there. Speaking of which, I'll have to owl you. No. No. It's not secure. I'll talk to you. I promise I'll make it work." There was a loud snort from the couch. She kissed Blaise on the forehead. "Give her my love when she wakes up. She's going to need it, nursing the hangover she'll have tomorrow."

            "Who else should I give your love?" He grabbed her face gently.

            "Another thing that is too time consuming to discuss now and too secure to discuss over owl mail. I'll talk to you about it at school." She kissed him and pulled away flipping open a box with a smooth ball within it. She touched it and felt a yank behind her belly button. She landed unsteadily on her feet in her bedroom, yawning. She took off her coat, and unzipped her pants. She kicked off her shoes and peeled her socks off, taking a quick whiff of them and grimacing tossing them on the ground. Her pants came down and she struggled with one leg sitting down hard on the ground. She heard chairs scraping backwards and she cursed, pulling her t-shirt off and struggling into her nightgown. The footsteps neared her door and she tangled her feet in the sheets, grabbed onto her blankets and pillows and yanked with all her strength.

            She thanked the gods that she hadn't turned on the lights, her parents rushed in and she sat up, blinking and yawning. "Mummy?"

            "Oh my darling!" She rushed forward and gathered as much of Ginny as she could hold in her arms. "I thought you had been hurt." Dumbledore stood framed in the doorway.

            "Professor, what are you doing here?" She asked as her mother helped her to her feet. She brushed her mother off. "I'm fine, Mummy. It doesn't make it any easier with you treating me like a china doll." Her mother stood back, obviously hurt. For the first time, it didn't bother Ginny. She was slowly steeling herself against the guilt betraying her family would induce. Then she smiled at her mother. "I'm sorry, Mum. I guess I'm just not myself right now. But I want to be, I swear." She hugged her mother tightly, pulling away and turning to the figures silhouetted in the doorframe.

            Ginny heard a clinking and quickly dumped the dog tags back into her nightgown. "Well, I don't think I'll be able to go back to sleep. Why don't I come downstairs and we can have a cup of tea and discuss what is going on with my bloody body."

            "Ginny." Molly scuffed her daughter on the shoulder and led her downstairs as the other figures remained silent, turning to go downstairs. "Don't swear."

            "Sorry." She wondered what her mother would have thought of her conversation with Narcissa, it brought a smile to her face. "Is everyone mad at me?"

            "No, darling, just confused." Her mother's face was hard as they descended the stairs. "We're all confused, aren't we?"

            Ginny woke to a tapping on the window. She groaned and struggled out of bed, opening the window and taking the parchment from the familiar bird. She slit it open read the contents and groaned unhappily. Another fucking assignment for Ginny. She sat for a moment wallowing in self-pity before she resealed the envelope and sent it along to another party. There was a banging on her door and she opened it, still feeling supremely sorry for herself. She opened the door and her face suddenly softened. "Harry." She sighed.

            "Hi Ginny." He blushed, but his face stayed serious. "Look at this." He held out the paper to her. She sucked in her breath and pretended that her legs had lost strength beneath her. He caught her by the armpits as she clawed at the paper.

            "An attack? On Azkaban?" She looked up in disbelief. "Did any of the prisoners escape?" She kept her voice low and breathy, she noted with pleasure that it sounded as though she couldn't breath.

            "All of them." He said with gravity.

            "All…" Her legs dropped from under her again.

            "Any casualties?" Harry helped her up again.

            "All of the guards on duty."

            "How many is that, Harry?"

            "There are usually 300 – 350 guards on duty in Azkaban prison at one time." Ginny looked at Dumbledore shakily, as he appeared behind Harry. He handed her a cup of tea, which she took in shaking hands. She was getting better and better at acting. She tucked the paper under her arm and headed down the stairs after Dumbledore and Harry.

            _OVERWHELMING ESCAPE: _Mass Azkaban Breakout Shows Grim Promise for More as Death Toll Rises.

            Rahaad Khalid

            Daily Prophet

                        Dale Blakely and other Azkaban personnel were flooing into work last night to begin their graveyard shifts in the infamous maximum security prison. What they found on the scene says Blakely, "Was the worst bloody massacre I ever seen." The death toll rises to 275, although search and rescue teams expect it to grow as they refine their searches through the premises.

            "All the cells were open, bodies were strewn all about. All except one body had guard dogtags and that particular body was intact so that we could identify him as a guard." Said a thoroughly disturbed and anonymous rescuer today. "I ain't never seen nothing like it," she continued. "I don't think the guards managed to kill a single death eater." Though authorities are still unsure that death eaters can be blamed.

            "No witnesses, no evidence." Bemoans an auror who also wishes to remain nameless. "This was a quick job with only one possible motive that we can't back up except for probable cause. That purpose is to swell the ranks of the Dark Lord."

            Cornelius Fudge has not yet made a comment pertaining to the attack and has remained holed up in his office. The public awaits a sign of retaliation from Fudge, who has been functioning from a purely defensive standpoint since the Dark Lord was recognized as being back in power just a year and a half ago. Counselors will be on site in the ministry for those who, like many of us, are disturbed, shocked and scared by this new development in the Dark Lord's war.

            Ginny took a long sip of tea and pushed away the food her mother offered. The rest of the front page was filled with tamer pictures from attack. "Darling, you need to eat. You have to keep up your strength."

            "I'll be sick if I eat. Look at these." She pushed the paper away from herself. "Were their any order members that were guards last night?"

            "No. No members of the order were guards in Azkaban." Arthur said from where he sat in an armchair with his head in his hands.

            "But with such a huge staff, it's practically the main employer of the wizarding world! That seems impossible."

            "Well, it's not, Gin. Alright?" Ron said grumpily.

            "Ronnie, I was just asking a question, don't bite my head off, alright?" She put her fingers to her temples. Harry came behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders.

            "You won't help anyone by yelling, Ron."

            "That's right." Said Molly, buttering Ron's toast and shoving it in front of him. Ron scoffed loudly.

            "Gin, I was hoping I could talk to you." Harry said shyly from behind her. "Can we go for a walk?"

            "Um, sure, Harry." She smiled shyly and batted her eyelashes. His reaction made her want to toss her cookies. Could this boy be any sappier?

            "Ah! Just stay in the back garden you two or go up to Ginny's room. This," Molly tapped the paper, "should teach you that nothing is safe any longer."

            "Mama, don't be paranoid. Why would they attack our back garden when they could attack somewhere like Azkaban?" Ginny whined.

            "Don't argue with me, Ginny, just stay in the back garden."

            "Fine." She grabbed Harry's hand and skipped along dragging him behind. She went to the far wall and perched on a stone bench. Harry came, pushing back vines, getting his face smudged a little. He pushed his glasses up on his nose.

            "What did you want to talk about Harry?" She asked sweetly. He fell down beside her on the bench, panting.   

            "You know, we said that us, you know, wouldn't go past, you know…"

            "You had better tell me, Harry, I'm not sure that I know."

            "You said that you didn't want it to go past that one time, but Ginny I really like you and -"

            "I really like you too, Harry. What exactly are you asking?" She looked forward, biting her lip in anticipation.

            "What I… Would you… Do you wanna… Will you go out with me?" He said, visibly nervous. Ginny smiled her widest smile and grabbed onto his hands, jumping onto him and kissing him all over the face.

            "Of course!" She leaned back and beamed at him. "Of course I will, Oh Harry, I'm so happy that you asked me." He hugged her and kissed her again. She sighed.

            "I'm really glad, too." There was crashing and banging inside the house. "Did you hear that?" She tried to look really worried.

            "I'll go check it out."

            "I'll come with you…" Ginny pulled out her wand and twirled it between her fingers. He looked horrified and she raised her eyebrows, "I'm faster than you, Harry."

            "Right. Let's go." They went through the trees and Harry was bent over like a b-movie cop, but Ginny had already replaced her wand, she was safe. They wouldn't attack the burrow, yet. They went into the house where they found Molly screaming at the twins about something. Ginny touched Harry's arm and bit her lip. He followed her upstairs. When they reached her room, she kissed him softly and told him how happy she was that she was going to be his girlfriend. Mission Accomplished. 

                                                                                                                                                         _So, I've completed your little mission and it was the easiest thing that you've had me do. If you were a sixteen-year-old girl the sod would already be dead, hormones will be this boy's downfall. The only hard thing about this will be keeping up with all this sap and having him hang on long enough to put the pieces into place next year. He's even snoring in my bed, probably drooling all over my pillow. Should I kill him, love? Run downstairs in hysterical tears, wearing nothing but a sheet? The Boy Who Lived disgraced by death in a lover's arms. _

_            But that's your job, I know. So I'll leave that to you, waiting for the day when you can replace him at my side. But for now, we'll have plenty of time to bond and for him to fall for me. With Wormtail and your Shape shifter making blunders left and right, I'll have to be here all of break and lie low and innocent for my parent's to believe that I'll be a good, law-abiding Gryffindor when I return to the Hogwarts community. It's looking like detention will be Draco and I's only time together, but maybe that was your intention. Harry is showing signs of waking, so I'll wrap this up and send it off. Be more careful than usual when sending these things around, I can't think of anyone who I would be owlling if I wasn't corresponding personally with the Dark Lord. _

_            I'll get back to you about the attack and we can throw a few ideas around. I wish I could spend more time at Headquarters because we could finally get some real ground covered, but that'll be difficult. _

_            Ginny _

            Ginny let Pig go the moment that Harry rolled over and blinked at her. "Would you hand me my glasses, Gin?"

            "Sure, Harry." She passed them over to him and sat in her chair so that she was facing the bed."What's going on with the resistance, do you know?"

            Harry turned so that he was facing the ceiling, Ginny shifted with annoyance. "Dumbledore told us not to tell you anything." He said uncomfortably.

            "What?" Ginny asked quietly and bent her head. When he reached out to touch her arm she looked up to him with her lip bobbing and tears running down her face. The acting was easy, she was so angry. Her blood boiled, and a hot lump throbbed in her throat. "Why would he say that? Why does no one trust me? Dumbledore h-he said in my first year that my possession wouldn't be held against me and now he's making up lies about…" She broke into full-fledged sobs, amazed with herself. She shouldn't be too surprised though, she was under a lot of stress in an environment where you weren't allowed to show your emotions.

            She climbed into Harry's arms and he held her closely. "I know, Gin. I'm so sorry. Look, we're all working hard to make sure that he goes away. I can tell you that much." She shook her head. Did he think she was three-years-old? He might as well have told her that they were making bad guy go bye bye for all the good that little bit of info had accomplished.

            "You don't trust me either?" She sobbed.

            "I do, I do, Gin. I just can't disobey Dumbledore. He knows so much and I just couldn't." She stopped and sniffled. She managed a watery smile, acting like she was trying to put on a brave face. 

            "Okay… I just. I want Dumbledore to trust me. I want to help end this war, Harry. I want the right side to get victory. No matter what it costs." She wasn't lying.

            "Don't worry, Gin, it will." Ginny smiled to herself. It certainly would. There was a knock on the door that sent her bolt upright.

            "I brought you two some sandwiches, you've been up here an awfully long time." Molly's voice was muffled a little as Ginny pulled on her overalls and Harry pulled on shorts and a t-shirt, as Ginny frantically sprayed perfume around the room. "Why is the door locked?"

            "Of course you can come in, Mum!" Ginny unlocked the door and let her in. Her mother came in and sniffed the air, but smiled with satisfaction. "We must have locked it by accident. We've just been talking about all this stuff that's been happening because of the attack. It's really scary."

            "Yeah, it is." Harry said awkwardly from where he was perched in the corner.

            "Well, it's good you have each other to lean on. I just brought you some sandwiches." She set the plate on Ginny's bed. "Were you wearing that earlier?" She said suspiciously.

            "I changed, I was in my pajamas before." Ginny kissed her mother. Harry swallowed visibly. Molly smiled at them both and turned to go.

            "Just yell if you need anything, you two. And try and include Ron. He's been hanging out with the twins but Harry is his friend, okay Ginny?"

            "Yes, Mum. Ronny can come up if he's so torn up to be spending time with the twins."

            "I don't want any of your tongue, Gin, I'll see if Ron wants to come up." She closed the door and both let out a breath of air. It reopened. "And Gin, I want the door unlocked from now on."

            "Yes, Mum." The door closed and they heard Molly walk down the stairs. Harry sighed again visibly. He sat down on the bed and opened his arms. Ginny stared at him for a second before she realized what he wanted and climbed into them.

            "Why were you spraying perfume?"

         "Mum has caught everyone but me and Ron for having sex because of the smell of the room. She says there's nothing like it. She's never wrong. But perfume can cover it enough that she won't be too rabid about it if we don't tell her we're dating until we get back to school, or we let Ron tell her."

            "I don't want to lie to your parents." Harry said guiltily.

            "Having sex isn't exactly all that hurtful, Harry. Performing dark magic in their house would be basically bad." Harry chuckled.

            "Yeah, no kidding." He kissed her and she sighed as she felt herself being pushed back onto the bed for the third time with Harry on top of her. She couldn't deal with it, he made her want Draco so bad. She put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him away.

            "Hold on, Harry, what if my mom really sends Ron up?" His eyes widened and he jumped back onto the chair that she had been sitting on. She flopped down onto her pillow and pulled on the panties that she hadn't had time to put on when her mother knocked on the door. Harry stuffed his boxers into his pockets.

            "I really do want to hang out with Ron. I'll see you later, okay?" He leaned over her and kissed her.

            "Yeah…" She kissed him back and tried to put feeling into it, but found herself unable to act as well here as when she had to portray blatant emotions on her face. He lifted himself up and smiled at her, turning towards the door. It snapped open in his face and he and Ron looked at each other in surprise.

            "Someone downstairs for Ginny." He said gruffly. "You want to go throw around a quaffle or something, man?"

            "Yeah, that sounds awesome." He gave Ginny a curious look, and she, confused as the rest of them, followed them down the stairs.

            "Who is it, Ron?"

            "Some Muggle." He said in the same gruff voice.

            "Huh?" Her face twisted. She came down the stairs and saw a familiar back talking to her father, whose face had a familiar look of delight.

            "Rick?" He turned and gulped. "What are you doing here?"

            "I was hoping I could talk to you." He glanced around.

            "About what?" She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. She saw his face and grabbed him by the elbow. "Would you like to go for a stroll outside?"

            "Ginny." Her mother said, vaguely annoyed. "Can you please -?"

            "Just for a little walk, mother, I'm suffocating." She said impatiently. Her mother, not wanting to be rash in front of a Muggle, allowed her to go.

            "Not far is all I'm saying." She said testily.  Ginny gestured for Rick to follow her and they walked out onto the drive. She headed for a grotto in the woods where they could talk and she could be out of her mother's eye line.

            "What did you want to talk to me about?"

            "Last night." He swallowed. "It was ridiculous, I know." He grabbed on to the shoulder of her overalls. "Those overalls. I love these things."

            "What are you talking about? I was halfway across the country last night."

            "You came to me about midnight last night and asked to talk. I – we… you know. I thought for sure you would remember." Rick grabbed her by the shoulder. "You had a couple glasses of wine, but you could take it when you were younger. I thought you could handle it later on."

            "I'm trying to tell you that at midnight last night, I was far away from here." She covered her face in her hands.

            "I have to go." She looked away and saw an owl flying through her window through a gap in the trees. "Look, don't mention this ever again. Don't contact me, and if I ever come to your house, don't let me in."

            "But you said, last night…" She ran away from him. "You said you wanted me to come see you. I thought inside, that was just an act. You said that you would come back." She paused and turned. "Look, Rick, I don't want to go into it, but you may be in danger." He looked confused. "Stay here tonight."

            "I thought you just said –"

            "My parents will take care of you tonight, I'll smooth this over and then you can go home, but right now, just listen to me, okay? It could be your life."

            He followed her. "Virginia, I don't understand."

            "Good."

            She opened the door with her wand, when she saw who rode the Dark Lord on the bed she hit her with a hard spell. The woman flew against the wall, swimming in blonde hair. Voldemort looked fairly amused.

"I see you got my letter."

"I didn't fuck that Muggle!" She pointed at the woman. "She did."

"And why do you say that?"

"Her wand." Ginny picked it up and twirled it between her fingers before snapping it. "She got careless." The woman sobbed in the corner. "Shut up!"

"And what shall we do?" Voldemort got from the bed and with a flick of his wrist was dressed. "Kill her, love?"

"Not yet." Ginny grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into a chamber off the Dark Lord's bedroom. "Wait there and think about what's going to happen to you."

She sealed the door. The Dark Lord, watched her amused.

"She was going to be our new potions teacher."

"You knew I hadn't done it." Ginny said softly, pulling the elastic out of her hair. "You knew it all along. You just wanted to get me here." She unbuttoned her robes and let them slide to the ground. "You wanted me to see you two together." She tugged at the knot of her bender until it released and the magic crackled to the floor. "Why?"

He smiled and nodded.

"I just don't like it." Draco ran his hands through his smooth hair. Ginny had caught him just as he was getting out of the shower. "He didn't even put her under any kind of controlling spell?"

"None." Ginny shook her head, biting her lip. "Ha! Imagine how potions was for me before? Intensify that by at least a hundred." Draco chuckled.

"This Potter business, too…"

"I know. This isn't exactly my day, either."

"And he took to it?" Draco said uncomfortably. Ginny stood up and pulled her shirt over her head. She had just been napping with Draco, who had flown her to her window when she had visited him after her meeting with the Dark Lord. Her foot slid across the invisibility cloak they had been wearing.

"Like a duck to water." She pulled her hair back. "I should really go entertain my Muggle guest."

"He's probably being entertained to death by your Muggle loving father."

"Probably." She leaned over to kiss Draco on the lips. "Spend the night with me tonight?"

"And be your third lay of the day?" Draco pouted. "Not likely."

"You'll be the only one that wasn't strictly a business venture." She said tentatively then giggled. "See, now I'm all raring to go and you're getting uppity about my being a slut. I can't help it you know."

"Yeah, I do." He pulled her down and kissed her again. There was a knock on the door. Ginny tossed the invisibility cloak to Draco and she saw him squeeze into a corner. She opened the door. Her mother bustled in with a basket of laundry.

"Why don't you go downstairs with that Muggle? He seems lovely and rather eager to talk to you. He seems to be putting two and two together and he's going to need a little emotional support. Where are you planning on putting him?"

"Percy's not home until this weekend." Ginny said sweetly, grabbing the basket from her mother.

"It's such a mess in here." Molly started plucking at the clothes on the floor.

"Don't Mum." Ginny put a hand on her mother's shoulder. "I'll clean it up later."

"Alright. I'll give you another fifteen minutes and then you can come join the family with your friend." She smiled at Ginny and sniffed around.

"Is that cologne?"

"I think it might have been Harry's that he was wearing earlier." Ginny said, sniffing the air curiously.

"Very possibly." Her mother still wasn't buying it. Hopefully she didn't recognize Salazar for Men. She smiled a little and looked around. "Fifteen minutes."

"Yes, Mum." She shut the door in her mother's face, locking it.

"Less cologne, next time." She said, pulling the cloak away from his face.

"What if your Mum is listening, then?"

"Then it's a good thing I put the sound proofing charm on there this morning when I was up here with Harry."

"Will it last that long?" Ginny put a finger to his lips.

"Don't worry about it." She kissed him softly and turned to grab his broomstick from her closet. He pulled the cloak over his head again and kissed her once more before kicking away from the window. Ginny sighed and closed it tight behind her.

"So. What's up with your family?"

"I know they kind of fly in from left field, but they're harmless, truly."

"Is this some mystical Merlin type of shit?" Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her garden seat.

"Uh. I guess you could say that." She looked at him, staring off into space. "I can

erase your memory if you like." She offered.

            "Oh. Lovely." He fell back to lay in her lap. She tapped her fingers gently along his forehead, back and forth. "So, explain to me again how it wasn't you last night?"

            "Okay. Well. I can't." Ginny chuckled. "But shoot anyone who comes to the door that looks like me unless I give you a surefire sign. Something no one but I would know."

            "Tired?" Rick asked as she yawned widely.

            "How could you tell?" She joked. There was a twig snapping. Ginny quickly stood up and whipped out her wand. "Lumos." She sighed and sat back down. Rick replaced his head, looking wounded. "Hey, Bill."

            "Bad news, Gin." He said in the chair next to the bench where Ginny and Rick lay.

            "Another attack?" Bill glanced at Rick and the hand that ran through his hair.

            "No. A murder. But the women who did it are going to be the first prisoners to go back to Azkaban."

            "None of the others have been tracked down?" Ginny knew well that most were hiding out in headquarters going through extensive animagus training. Those that were already animagi were on missions.

            "No." Bill started to cry softly.

            "Who was murdered, Bill?" Ginny touched a hand to his back.

            "Fluer Delacour." Ginny gasped. She was inwardly celebrating.

            "She had just signed on for a teaching position at Hogwarts. The new potions professor." Bill said softly. He looked at Ginny. "You'll never believe who did it."

            "Who?" She whispered her fingers trembling on her lips.

            "Narcissa Malfoy and Blaise Zabini." Bill whispered, his head falling back into his hands. "May they burn in hell."


	11. Unsought Gifts

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter or any related material.

"I have to get them out of there!" She sobbed. Rick didn't say anything. "They can't spend even one night in Azkaban, not one."

"They murdered someone, Virginia." He said softly.

"They did it for me." She whispered. He lay in Percy's bed, she had soundproofed the door when they went in so she could get him set up for the night.

"Someone murdered your brother's girlfriend for you?" He pulled away a little.

"No. No." Ginny shook her head. "She was trying to take my place and they're loyal to me and so they …" She shrugged, taking in a long, shuddering breath. "You can't understand, Rick, don't even try." There was a long pause. "I have to get them out of there. Narcissa will be safe at Malfoy Manor, but Blaise will be hard to place. She probably won't be able to go home, her parents would want to cut off ties because they still are out in the open as good. She could stay at Headquarters, but I need her at Hogwarts, I swear to god."

"You'll figure something out, Gin." Rick touched her arm, she turned at him and smiled. "I'm not saying it's right to kill anyone, but I trust you, I think." He sighed and leaned back. "This has been the craziest day of my life."

"This is every day in my life. I have a boyfriend named Harry, whom you met, but I really think he's a sappy slob in every possible connotation. But I have to get him to fall in love with me because the Dark Lord has to kill him. And then there's Voldemort himself, which is a like, domestic nightmare. And then there's Draco." She paused and smiled. "That, everyday, with attacks and making decisions that I already thought that I made…" She shrugged. "It's beyond crazy."

Rick opened his mouth but was interrupted by a knock on the door. He stopped and motioned for her answer it. She did and Harry peered through. "You two okay in here?" He grinned jovially. Ginny refrained from rolling her eyes.

"Fine, Harry, we're just catching up on old times." He continued to smile until he saw that her eyes were wet.

"Have you been…" His voice dropped level. "Crying?" He tried to brush a tear from under her eye, but she ducked away.

"I really need to talk to Rick right now." Harry looked hurt for a moment before patting her on the back.

"I understand." He said. He winked at Rick, who smiled weakly. "Okay. Should I come up later?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Not tonight, Harry." She patted his cheek gently with her hand.

"Yeah…" He slid outside of the door. Ginny closed it and repeated the spell on the door and the windows just in case.

"Sappy slob… yeah, that seems to be about right." Rick cocked his head to the side and grinned. "You put up with this all so your boss can kill him."

"I'm a devoted employee." She sat on the bed. "I'm going to have to get out of here tonight. I have to free them tonight."

Rick rubbed her back and pulled her down to lie beside him. "You still paint?"

"I haven't done anything but sketches in a while."

"There are some canvases in my car. Paint me tonight, tomorrow I'll take you to the park to paint." Rick said, his eyebrows raised.

"You'd do that for me?" She hugged him. "Yes! Yes!" She gasped excitedly, Rick laughed. "Go get one of those canvases. I'll go get my paints." She stumbled with him down the stairs, eager to get into the door.

He passed her on the stairs and she shoved open her door and grabbed her bucket of paints. Maybe they would spend a night in Azkaban, but Ginny would make sure that it was only one. She glanced out her window to see Rick at his truck, so she started making a bag for the next day. She threw in the wand she had gotten from Azkaban last time and a big cloak. She heard someone coming up the stairs and grabbed her bucket, opening the door quickly. Her mother smiled at her as she started up the stairs.

"How is your friend?" She asked. Ginny kicked the bucket back into her room before her mother could see it.

"He's okay, but we need to talk to through a lot before he'll be able to return to everything. We're going to go out and paint tomorrow."

"I'm not sure that's safe."

"It is." Ginny said defiantly.

"Déjà vu." Ginny said dryly, crouching on the floor of Azkaban prison. She had gotten the invisibility cloak from Harry just in case Rick and she needed to "hide" from any evil wizarding fiends that would sneak up on her. A guard passed close to her with a meal cart. She sucked in her breath a little as he passed by and pressed her self against an empty cell. She followed him silently in her soft soled Uggs. He stopped in front of the door to the high security section of the prison. He opened the door with his wand and continued to haul the meal cart through the door. She slipped through the door as he struggled to pull it over the door jamb.

He stopped in front of one of the cells and rapped on the door next to it, these prisoners weren't allowed bars. "I'll be with you in a minute." Ginny watched him disappear into Narcissa's cell and then let herself into Blaise' cell.

Blaise was slumped on the bed, her face turned towards the barred window, her breath huffing with sobs. She turned towards Ginny and gasped, stumbling to her feet and embracing Ginny. She laughed and hiccupped.

"Are you taking me out of here?" Ginny nodded and slipped the hood back on. Blaise walked to the window and gripped the bars. Ginny wedged herself into a corner and waited. The guard didn't take long. He pulled in the meal cart smoothly.

" Good morning. Here you are miss." He nodded to her and held out her food.

"Thank you, Smitty." She took the tray and set it on her bed.

"I killed a man once. I didn't get sent to here only, I got honored because of it."

"Who'd you kill?" Blaise asked, taking a bite of her food.

"An old death eater. Never quite knew his name. Wish I had."

"You may soon know." Ginny held a wand on him as she pulled off the invisibility cloak. He stumbled back, but didn't reach for his wand. "But I'll give you a choice, you seem like a kind enough man. Follow us back to the Dark Lord's headquarters. Join us."

"I – I don't know, ma'am. I've got a little girl just a few months old, you see. Her mum was killed by the Dark Lord as it was."

"She'll thank you for it. She'll be a princess." Ginny smirked.

"I don't think there's nothing wrong with Muggle – borns."

"Nor do I. So what'll it be? An orphan or a princess?"

"Both." His hands trembled at his sides. "Make it quick." Ginny obeyed.

"We have to go quick, Blaise. They'll have detected the spell." Blaise nodded and shuffled out the open door. Ginny opened Narcissa's and was surprised as the perfectly composed woman simply nodded as they entered.

"Close the door, Ginny." She said softly. Ginny obeyed, she concentrated for a moment before she blasted out the window. She removed a piece of cloth from her pocket. It hovered in the air, wind from the window making it bob and spin a little. Ginny pointed her wand at it and it began to glow blue and spread out.

"Well, climb on." She shrugged, pulling herself on. Narcissa and Blaise obeyed. There were footsteps outside the door. Ginny covered them quickly with the invisibility cloak and guided them slowly out of the window.

"It doesn't cover the rug."

"It's not supposed to." Ginny suddenly put on a burst of speed and the sped up towards the morning sun. Narcissa calmly collected the invisibility cloak as it lifted back into her arms.

"Disillusionment charm?" She yelled over the wind.

"Please." Ginny handed the wand back to her. "I'm not so good at steering this thing, I don't want to try to multi-task." The wand rapped her on the head and then Blaise yelped behind her. Ginny looked around and was pleased to see that they were invisible on the air.

Blaise whooped. She leaned forward to whisper in Ginny's ear. "It wasn't as bad as all that. I grabbed Smitty's dog tags so that you can find his daughter."

"What's his name?"

"Joram Symthesson."

"Good. I thought it was going to be Smith. I'll get her after I take you to headquarters. I'm going to need a broom if I'm going to be carrying a baby." Blaise nodded and hugged her from behind.

"I'll take care of her."

"First we'll have to figure out what to do with you. You'll probably see them at Headquarters, but you won't be able to go home."

"You haven't asked about what happened." Blaise said. Ginny pulled up the rug a little as she saw headquarters flick into view.

"I'll hear about it soon enough." She stopped the carpet a few feet above the lawn. The establishment was huge, but most of the inner workings happened underground. Ginny took back her wand and they returned to normal. The door had already been taught to recognize the three of them, so it granted them entry without any trouble.

"Tom!" Ginny yelled as they entered the main hallway. "I'm home." He swept out of the small dining hall near the entry hall and strode elegantly towards them. Ginny giggled. "You've got mustard on your beard." She snorted. The Dark Lord looked flustered all of a sudden. She wiped it off with her thumb and onto her pants. He kissed her and then turned to Narcissa and Blaise who hung back a little. They curtsied deeply. He reached for Narcissa first, touching her face and examining her.

"You are still one of my finest servants. Thank you for your support of me and of our queen to be."

"My lord. No thanks is necessary, I am only thankful for your love and approval." Narcissa breathed, backing away.

"Food and clothing shall await you in your old room."

"My lord." She turned down the hallway, breezing away. Voldemort lifted Blaise from her crouch and patted her face also.

"One of my greatest tools. You have proved yourself an asset to us. You have my love." Blaise bowed away.

"I thank you, my lord."

"We may find you another way of showing your thanks. Go to your parent's room and settle down." She glanced at Ginny before steering herself away also.

"Does the word monogamy mean anything to you?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"You're a bloody hypocrite." He said. She rolled her eyes and then wiped more mustard off his face. She stuck her finger in her mouth.

"Have you been eating egg salad again?" She asked angrily. He didn't answer, staring at the floor. "I told you! Watch your cholesterol or you're going to drop dead."

"I am the greatest wizard alive."

"Your arteries may have molten lava or whatever flowing through them, but they can still get clogged up. No more egg salad." She scolded. He rolled his eyes.

"I have another errand to run and then I'll come back. But I'll need a broom, a good one that I can steer with my knees." He shrugged. She sighed.

"May I please use your broom, oh Tom, oh Dark Lord, oh greatest most evilest wizard of all time." She said sarcastically.

"Not with that attitude." He said, walking towards his rooms.

"Tom!" She whined, stumbling after him.

Ginny had killed the nanny and grabbed a box of pictures and a baby book. Hayley Rose. After a second of thought she grabbed the diaper bag and parenting books as well. She hung the basket she had brought on the back of the broom and cradled the baby in her arms. She pushed away from the window slowly, pulling the invisibility cloak close over them.

She went slowly all the way back. This had been a weird day. When she landed back at headquarters it had taken her an hour longer than it had to journey there. She slung the basket over her arm and argued with the door for a little while.

"It's just a baby!" She said, frustrated out of her wits and wincing at the basket's heavy handle digging into her arm.

"I don't recognize it." Garbled the knocker, a smiling devil straddling the ring.

"You recognize me. This baby is my business. So let me in."

"You know orders better than I do. No can do."

"Let me knock then, so that someone can introduce you to Hayley Rose."

"You know the rules, no knocking."

"I'm going to blast you in." She said, kicking the door. The smile grew on the knocker's face.

"Try it. It keeps me entertained for years." She sighed, slumping onto the doorstep. She turned around a little.

"Please?"

"No."

"TOM!" She bellowed. The baby woke and started crying. The devil suddenly seized up and the door swung open.

"Bitch…" He muttered as she went by. She frowned and shook the baby a little. It didn't help, it started yelping more loudly. Voldemort at the entrance to the hallway.

"An unfortunate loophole in the spell. The door opens to a crying infant."

"It's lovely." She sighed and set the basket down. "Take Hayley Rose and introduce yourself." He frowned and took the baby.

"I've never done well with children." He admitted.

"They must be scared shitless of you." She laughed. Hayley Rose actually stopped crying. There was a smudge of a smile on The Dark Lord's face.

"So like you, comfortable in the arms of evil and so beautiful." Ginny grinned.

"You're just inflating your ego. Evil, honestly." He was occupied. She pulled the blanket away from the baby's face a little. Hayley Rose was gurgling and smiling.

"Moldy wart." Ginny stretched a little and started to put her robes back on. Voldemort looked up from where he lay, his ugly skeleton like body stark against the dark green bed coverings.

"I like it. I've been using a completely embarrassing nickname this whole time."

"You going back to sleep, old man?"

"I think so. But I'll have a second wind."

"I'll probably be gone." She glanced at him. He was already breathing deeply. She put up her hair and padded down the hallway to Blaise' room. She opened the door quietly without knocking. Blaise was playing with the baby, who was lying on a blanket on the floor.

"I've been thinking." Ginny said. "About where to put you."

"I thought I was staying here." Blaise said softly. She looked down. "You know I can't go home."

"I need you, Blaise." Ginny said desperately. "I have an idea. The Dark Lord can easily draw you up a fake identity. We can dye your hair and there are spells to disguise people."

"So I could finish at Hogwarts?" Blaise asked, her face lighting up.

"I was thinking more along the lines of the new Potions teacher." Blaise paused. "And you most likely take Hayley Rose along, since that seems to be your new purpose in life."

"I could…" She looked down at the baby. "Isn't she just beautiful? I knew Smitty was a wonderful man, and I can understand all of what he did."

"I'm not sure that I do, but I'm glad to see you happy." Ginny smiled.

"I've needed someone like this. Not just for me, but to help someone."

"I'll be here for three more hours. I'm going to talk to a couple of ministry people and get you all set up. Any preference for names?"

"Oscar."

"That's a boy's name."

"I know. I thought you were asking about surnames… Elizabeth Oscar."

"Can you do any accents?"

"Kind of an eastern European thing and American, of course…"

"That's good! No one will know you if you're from America. Can you keep it up for a long time?"

"Sure." Blaise was getting excited.

"That's great. I'll be back." Ginny skidded out of the room, doing a victory dance. She almost ran into Narcissa. "I thought you were already back at the manor."

"Draco and I wanted to see the baby." She leaned forward secretively. "And to be rid of Lucius for a few hours. He probably won't notice, there are plenty of maids that have been keeping him occupied. Plus, if the authorities were to come to the house." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Has it been rough?"

"Normal." Narcissa said dryly. "But I'm liking it better now that I have two girls at least a decade under me for confidantes."

"I'm honored I have your trust." Ginny put a friendly hand on Narcissa's shoulder. Narcissa grinned and patted her hand.

"I'm surprised you got it. You're so Gryffindor." She entered the room and then stuck her head out of the door. "Draco is getting food, of course. You two ought to go back to the manor if there is going to be any nonsense."

"I've got a quick errand and then I'll go see him. Hayley Rose. She's an angel."

Ginny stopped the kitchen before she went on her errand. Draco waved emphatically his mouth wrapped around a large sandwich. She smiled and sighed. He had mustard all over his face. "I've gotta make a call, but I'll be back in like fifteen minutes."

"Jerry!" The tired looking man who was reading his books looked up at the fireplace and grinned. "How are you, pal?"

"What do you need?" He pulled his chair to sit in front of her.

"I need you to make an identity. American, Muggle friendly teaching credentials, someone who isn't easily tracked down, by the name of Elizabeth Oscar. Give her glowing recommendations from someone that actually exists, but is impossible to contact." She grinned pleadingly.

"Anything else?" He grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing on it furiously.

"A daughter. Hayley Rose, but the name might need to be changed, so just get me some blank birth documentation. Oh yeah, Elizabeth Oscar has to be good at potions."

"Are we filling the new position at Hogwarts?" Jerry grinned. "That's great."

"Hopefully. How quickly can you get it to me?"

"By tomorrow. I'll go in tonight."

"Thank you so much." She smiled again. "We'll set up an interview at Hogwarts, then. This is so great. I'm in your debt."

"I'll remember that." He winked and she pulled her head out of the fire, cracking her neck.

"You're such an accessible person." Said a voice behind her. She wanted to frown, but didn't. Wormtail.

"I mean, anyone can talk to you, right?" He said anxiously. She smiled.

"Of course." She said warmly.

"I feel obligated to tell you that Fleur Delacour wanted to get rid of you. She actually wanted to start a revolution within the movement."

"It's a good thing she's dead then." Ginny patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I wanted to but…"

"I understand." Ginny offered him another warm gesture and left the room. "You putrid monster." Draco stood outside the door, looking considerably cleaner and happier.

"You ready to get out of here?" He asked. Ginny nodded.

"Where's Lucius?" Ginny asked, stretching in front of Draco's mirror. "Do I look fat to you?"

"You always look fat to me…" He said reassuringly, coming up behind her. She rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure where dear old dad is. Probably diddling the cook."

"Lovely." She turned and smiled at him. "I don't have to be home until evening." He smiled and kissed her softly.

"So I've heard."

"We've gotten to see each other. I was afraid we wouldn't be able to. I haven't been able to get away from stupid Harry Potter."

"Dear old St. Potter." Draco grinned.

"Did your Mom tell you what happened? I got a little from Blaise, but she was occupied with the baby."

"She flooed away from school and came here like she usually does. Mum met her and we didn't get to talk or anything. They went in Mum's room and talked for a little while. My mum's never liked anyone nearly so much as you I might add. I kind of assumed they were in there the whole time, but I went to visit you, so I don't really know. They went to Fleur Delacour's and hid in the shadows while she was with your brother. Then he left and they killed her. The ministry caught them."

"How?" Ginny wondered.

"They're not sure, but Mum thinks she was pretending to be an informant, they must have been monitoring her house. Anyway, they apparated there even before her body had hit the ground and took Blaise and Narcissa in. Apparently they both cast the spell and so both were equally guilty."

"God. All that for me."

"You're not too shabby, Gin. And you got them out, which probably means that you're even higher now. You're good and loyal and brave-"

"And I don't want to hear about it." She kissed him again.

"Do you think that the ministry will come here?" He asked worriedly.

"I'll floo out your fireplace."

"They'll be monitoring them." He said, biting his lip nervously. "I'm so glad I can finally apparate."

"Rub it in." She sighed. "It would be so useful for me."

"So where are you today?"

"Painting with Rick in some swamps." She said, looking out the window. "It's a long drive, we'll be gone all day."

"The Muggle?" He frowned.

"He's a wonderful man. I can make distinctions. Don't think that you're so mighty and noble that you don't have to. They're not all the same."

"What about all those Azkaban guards you killed?"

"I didn't have time to make distinctions." She said simply, shrugging. He kissed her, kissed her. Long passionate kisses. She backed away towards the bed a little.

"We should probably wait until we're back at Hogwarts, it'll be safer." Draco said softly. She sighed, knowing he was right.

"Yeah." She whispered, grimacing. He sighed also, hating it.

"Do you love him?" He asked.

"Tom? Yes." She nodded him. "But it's made up more of admiration of his power and abilities. He's my friend."

"With benefits?" He said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe for him. He's an old man, Draco. I -…" She stopped for a moment. "I love you." There was a pounding noise of footsteps downstairs. They were coming upstairs. Ginny grabbed her broom and pushed open the window, glad she had the foresight to bring it along. She kissed Draco and looked mournfully in his eyes. "I love you." She said, shivering a little.

"Go." He whispered. She pushed away from the window and rocketed above the Ministry representatives who were streaming in, who didn't even raise their heads. Draco would be the only one in house, with Lucius having to run. He could handle it alone. But she wished that Malfoy manor could be dark and abandoned and that firm hands grasped her waist behind her as she steered into the growing dark.

Ginny had to take the knight bus back to Rick's house, having had to return Tom's broom. She wore her cloak over her face on the ride and spoke in a deep gravelly voice. She knocked on his door.

"This was fun." She said. "We should do it tomorrow."

"You're exhausting me, Virginia." He sighed. "Did everything go well?"

"Better than planned."

"Did you have to kill anyone?" He joked.

"Two people." She sighed, glancing over at him. His face turned ashen as he blew out a breath.

"Sorry I asked."

"They didn't deserve it. But they saw my face and I can't have that. I don't feel as guilty as I did before. I threw up the first time I killed someone, it kind of took off the edge."

"How many have you killed?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Maybe 80."

"Jesus Christ, Virginia!" He gulped. She stretched and her back, shoulders and neck let out terrifying cracks.

"I'll ask you not use the lord's name in vain." She joked. He managed a chuckle.

"This is possibly the weirdest conversation I've had in a long time."

"How come?" She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder.

"I'm talking totally casually with a mass murderer and I don't care."

"Good." She snuggled closer to him. "I saved a baby if it makes you feel any better." He cleared his throat.

"Saved it?"

"Maybe not saved, but after I ruined her life I took steps to give her a new one."

"Great." He eased in front of her house. "So, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Right." She jumped out of the cab.

"So, why am I not in ultimate danger anymore."

"The woman that came to you is the woman that was killed." She smiled. "You're going to be fine."

"What time should I pick you up tomorrow?"

"Early. I'll probably won't need to be gone all day, so we can really go out and paint for a little while."

"The canvasses are in the back. The first two in the stack."

"Thanks." She ran around and pulled them out, along with her bucket of paints. Harry met her at the door. He kissed her, grinning. She smiled at him and then waved to Rick who was pulling out. "We're going to go painting tomorrow, but after that, I'm all yours." She said, feigning happiness. Inside, she was pleading the opposite.

"Do you want to hang out tonight?" He asked eagerly.

"Sure. Come up after awhile. Have they eaten yet?"

"Yeah, but I saved you some stuff." For this she was truly grateful, this meant that she would finally be able to eat, which she never had time for when she was working. She handed him the canvasses and they kissed for a moment, when she pulled away, she saw a spark of it, what could quickly turn into devotion, maybe even love. She smirked.

"Thanks…" She sighed.

"Weird." He opened the door to let her in and followed her inside.

"Huh?" She set eagerly towards the food.

"That smile. You look exactly like Draco Malfoy." Harry admitted.

"That is weird. I hope I don't really share any mannerisms with that evil cockroach." She said coolly, taking a bite of casserole.

"No." He shook his head. He looked over the canvasses, Ginny glanced. They were really bad. "Amazing." He breathed. She rolled her eyes.

"Sad." She ran a finger down the dry paint. "I need a lot of work on my painting."

"Nobody can do this, Ginny. Nobody."

"I think it's lovely too." Ginny turned to look at her mother, who entered in a night gown. "You are really very talented. Does Rick teach you very much?"

"He's taught me everything." She said, grinning. "I'm just glad; that I'm going out with him, he's still teaching me."

"Did you have fun?"

"Yeah." She stretched. "No trouble at all, in answer to your next question. We're going tomorrow and then, he's visiting family for the rest of the holidays."

"Oh, alright." Molly had blatantly ignored Ginny's not asking her for permission. She hugged Ginny a little and then held her at arm length. "Have you been having sex?"

"We were in a bog." Ginny said incredulously.

"That could be it." Molly patted her head and walked up the stairs. Ginny laughed. Her mother was really an odd woman. She had childhood memories of Bill, Charlie and Percy becoming teenagers and having her mother sniff through the rooms as Ginny dawdled in her wake.

"Percy smells." She would tell her mother earnestly, although he never failed inspection more than once. She didn't want Bill or Charlie to get in trouble, though she hadn't understood what she was supposed to be sniffing for.

"She's so weird." Ginny muttered to Harry.

"Do you want to go up now? I think she's gone to bed for good." Ginny scraped a little more food off of her plate and then dumped it into the sink.

"Okay." She frowned where he couldn't see her. She turned. "Do you still get your scar trouble?"

"Yeah." He said sullenly. "This afternoon he was pleased, he's been happy a lot lately."

"Really?" Ginny asked tearfully. She was making him happy?

"Did you see the prophet this morning?" He asked.

"No, Rick and I left really early."

"Bellatrix Lestrange was spotted. In Bulgaria." Ginny gulped. She was on a top secret mission in Bulgaria, she had been there for almost a year with her husband.

"Have they gotten her to Azkaban?" She asked.

"Nope. Just saw her, but as she's in the main circle, it was a pretty big deal."

"Yeah." Ginny said dully. She opened her door and Harry followed her inside. She closed it and he advanced towards her, pulling off his shirt. Ginny sighed, wondering what tomorrow would be like, after a day like today.

**AZKABAN WALLS ONCE AGAIN EMPTY**

**Rahaad Khalid **

_In another shocking escape, Narcissa Malfoy and Blaise Zabini disappeared from Azkaban Prison, killing a guard in the struggle. His 3.month.old daughter was apprehended later that day. Authorities ask anyone with suspicions or knowledge of the whereabouts of these attackers or Hayley Rose Smythesson to report for a reward. _

It was a short, embarrassing article at the back of the paper. There were three small pictures underneath, Blaise, Narcissa and Hayley Rose. Ginny finished her coffee and set the paper down as there was a knock at the door. She pulled on her coat and smiled at Rick. "You ready?" He asked her shortly.

"Yeah. MOM, I'M GOING!"

"SEE YOU TONIGHT!" Was the bellow from upstairs. Ginny gestured him outside. It was cold, she blew her breath on her clasped fists as the screen door slammed shut. She climbed into Rick's truck, and thrust her face forward into the heat as he started it.

"What time are you coming by?" He asked, fiddling with the radio.

"Uh… probably around five. I like this song." He stopped and pulled out of the driveway. She knelt and dug through her bag, pulling out her heavy cloak.

"You want to go from my place again?" He looked disgustingly alert. She nodded, settling back a little, yawning. "You okay?" He asked.

"Just tired. Harry kept me up most of the night."

"Mm." Rick rolled his eyes.

"How long will I be able to keep this up?" She wondered. "He likes to look in my eyes and tell me he loves me and that I'm an accessible person."

"If that's not the world's dirtiest pun…" Rick joked. Ginny laughed. He pulled up next to his place. She jumped out, pulling on her heavy cloak.

"Later, babe." She waggled her eyebrows at him. He laughed and sped off. Ginny adjusted the hood so that it covered her face and then, shivering signaled the Knight bus.

"What 'choo riding for again?" She moved forward and climbed the stairs up to the bus, slipping money into his hand.

"Dragon's Scale has mulled wine that could peel the skin off of your back." She said in the same gravelly voice.

"I figured you'd be one for blood." He said agreeably, helping her into a seat right next to the front.

"That's right. That's how they get to the blood." She glanced at him, nodding a little. He tapped on the front.

"Right to the Dragon's Scale. This hag's paid extra." With a BANG, they were rolling along a country road. They stopped in front of a little hut. Ginny wavered off the bus and walked slowly into the pub. She ordered a fire whiskey to go and sipped it as she started the long walk to headquarters, just over an hour. It was raining here, but her bones were warmed a little by the strong drink and her warm, heavy cloak.

She hoped that Draco had fared alright in the house, while his parents were gone. She also hoped that Lucius had diverted from his sexual haze long enough to escape to headquarters.

It started snowing halfway in. Her drink was gone and as much as she sprayed herself with hot air from the tip of her wand and stomped her feet, she couldn't take a breath she was shivering so hard. She was freezing by the time she had reached headquarters. Blaise met her at the door with a cup of hot tea, laced with her eternal ogden's. "I saw you coming." She said in explanation. "I thought you might need this. It's coming down pretty hard."

"Where's the little one?"

"Sleeping." Blaise said, her eyes softening. "Have you seen the prophet?"

"Yes."

"We'll have to change her name." She said sadly. "Such a beautiful name."

"Just her middle name." Ginny said.

"But if they have the same birthday…"

"Do they have to?" Ginny asked. "The actual day isn't as important as her name."

"Right…" Blaise said. "Anyway, I've been going through some baby name books that you had with that library you brought." Ginny laughed.

"I didn't know whether you would need all that. I didn't think that you'd ever taken care of kids before."

"I haven't. I'm grateful. I've been up all night reading. Hayley doesn't sleep through the night yet. She won't for awhile apparently, but it's okay."

"Good." Ginny, slightly warmed, embraced her friend. "Has Jerry come by?"

"Yes." Blaise said. "He filed some of the stuff in the hall of records at the ministry, but I've got all my references and IDs. He told me to fill in all the blanks on the birth stuff and he would come by later. Oh yeah, the interview is in an hour, so let's get this paperwork taken care of so we can do the appearance changing."

"We?" Ginny asked as Blaise opened her door.

"You're coming with me. Dumbledore asked me to bring my daughter. You're her nanny." Hayley struggled in her crib and fussed. Blaise picked her up and jiggled her a little.

"I bet you're hungry." Blaise cooed. "Grab the papers on the desk, Gin. There's some formula warming in the kitchen." They started back down the hallway.

"What are you thinking for the middle name?"

"Haley Virginia is what I wrote on the birth certificate already." Ginny glanced down.

"That's different." Ginny shrugged. "But it's pretty." She snorted. "Naming your kid after me, honestly."

"Who said it was for you?" Blaise joked, smiling.

When they came into the kitchen, Bellatrix Lestrange was making toast.

"Hi." She yawned. "You're Ginny, right? And Blaise." She shook their hands.

"It's nice to meet you." Ginny said softly.

"Likewise." Blaise added, picking up a bottle from a pan on the stove and testing it on her wrist. "Just right."

"The stolen baby." Bellatrix nodded towards Haley. "Never got a chance to have any of my own."

"She's going to move to Hogwarts, if we get a job there." Blaise said happily.

"So I've been told."

"So Bellatrix…" Ginny started.

"Call me Bella, queen." Bella bowed low. "I forgot myself there for a moment."

"You're forgiven." Ginny waved her hand impatiently. "What happened in Bulgaria?"

"I don't know." She shook her head unhappily. "They've been looking for the ten of us that escaped at first as much as they looked for my dear cousin. I didn't think I was spotted until I saw the article in the paper. I was surprised someone didn't make a big deal of it."

"It was Kingsley. He's your tracker. He was probably there on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix and lucked out seeing you. I know him. He's smart."

"Black?"

"Yeah."

"Attractive bloke in the gardens. Dressed very cleverly as a Muggle. I just went out for a cigarette."

"And you call yourself a Death Eater!" Blaise joked. "Those Muggle death sticks?"

"I happen to like them, and I know that our Lord happens to have a certain weakness for them too." She said, blankly. She was redeveloping her good looks, which had disappeared when she was in Azkaban. Now, she merely looked tired and a little gaunt. She finished her toast and wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. "Well, ladies, I'm supposed to help you with the disguise spells. Are you about ready to start?"

"Yes. Are we going back to my rooms?" Blaise asked, from where she had been feeding and filling out the forms at the table. "I'm just about finished, so you can do Ginny first if you like."

"Excellent." Bella said.

"Urgh." Ginny stuck her tongue between the huge gaps in brown teeth. "Thith ith dithguthting." She ran her hands down her acne scabbed face and groaned. She lifted up strands of limp brown hair and let them fall again to her hunched shoulders. "You're a geniuth, I thwear."

"Yes." Bella said calmly. Blaise on the other hand, was drastically different but still just as attractive. She wore clean, business robes and her short, wavy blonde hair was cut stylishly. Her nose had narrowed and her lips had become more full and her eyes had widened. She applied lipstick and smiled.

"How long will this stay on?" She asked, experimenting with her American accent.

"As long as you don't say the code word. But remember it, especially Ginny. Gun."

"I won't forget it." Ginny said, staring in the mirror. "Don't worry."

"What's that you're thaying?" Ginny croaked. Blaise covered a laugh with a cough.

"It's best if you don't talk to her, Albus." She shrugged and stage whispered. "She isn't much of a nanny, tell you the truth, but I can't really afford much more."

"P- p-" Ginny looked as though she was gagging. "P- puh – pleath don't thp – p – peak as though I am unable to hear." Blaise giggled.

"I'm so sorry. She won't be following us to Hogwarts if I'm hired." She glanced at Dumbledore, who scratched his long, broken nose, and smiled in the little basket where Haley kicked around.

"She's a beautiful baby." He acknowledged. "We haven't had a child here in awhile."

"She's a doll." Blaise assured him. "I would love for her to grow up here at Hogwarts, after I had her, I couldn't return to the academy, it's so snooty."

"You can hardly say that of Hogwarts." Dumbledore said.

"I know. It's beautiful, and everyone is so friendly." She gazed around. "It might take me a little while to get to know this castle though, so big!"

"It doesn't usually take too long to adjust to it. You'll learn quickly."

"Does that mean…?" She looked at him hopefully. Ginny glanced over, trying still to leer a little crazily. She had to have Blaise here. Since they had arrived in the office, she was worried about the outcome of the interview.

"We'd be delighted to have you onboard. If you can start right away…"

"Absolutely." Blaise jumped up and put her hands to her face. "When can we move in?" Albus laughed and shook her hand.

"Sometime next week." He nodded. "I'll give you time to get everything settled and then you can call this place home. I'll owl you this weekend with the final arrangements." He walked them to the door, Ginny stumbled outside.

"Miss Zabini." Blaise twitched but didn't turn, the smile disappearing a little. "Miss Oscar!" She turned.

"You'll have a wand next time I see you?"

"Yes. Our dear nanny managed to destroy mine when she was attempting to cook, her name's Crow if you didn't remember." Blaise met his eyes and smiled, but the sweat beads that formed on her forehead made Ginny know that she was not letting him x-ray her.

"I'll owl you, then." He waved to them and they continued down the stairs.

"What an athhole…" Ginny hissed. "You don't think…" Blaise shook her head.

"I don't think so." She shrugged. "He didn't get into my mind, I know."

"I really felt ath though he had a gun to my head during that whole escapade…" Ginny gulped. Blaise froze and looked at her as footsteps echoed up the stairs towards the place that they stood.

"The password." Blaise whispered. "You said the password."


	12. Coronation

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter & any related material.

The footsteps slowly drew nearer. Ginny threw up the hood of her cloak and grabbed onto Blaise tightly, hobbling slightly, the baby clasped in one hand. Blaise nodded to Professors McGonagall and Sprout as they passed. She introduced herself as Ginny broke into a fairly brisk hobble. "… my crackpot nanny. Dumbledore's assured me that I'll be able to get away from her once I'm here." There was a murmur from the stairs. "No, he hasn't but…" Blaise' voice faded away slowly as Ginny rushed away, clutching at the hood as it started to pull away and strands of her fiery red hair slipped through. Haley started to cry, she heard Blaise' voice as it drew closer, she took the stairs two at a time until they were even. She took the baby into her arms and gurgled to her as they exited through the gargoyle entrance together.

"Well, I nearly shit myself." She laughed, once they were back at headquarters. "That was ridiculous. And after all that assurance that you wouldn't say the password."

Ginny checked her watch as they exited the palace, continuing to hobble with her hood pulled up tightly, just in case Dumbledore continued to watch them. It was three thirty. "I'm going to check in with Tom and then head home, I was going to paint for a couple hours today."

"Okay." Blaise wasn't really paying attention, as Haley fussed a little. "I'm supposed to meet with him later to talk about the Hogsmeade attack. Any new ideas?"

"A distraction. Send ten death eaters down here to the village, but let some information be slipped through an anonymous tip to the ministry or something that we're hitting Hogsmeade full force. And then put Voldemort's new spell up, the guard one, around Hogwarts and just demolish it. Tear apart the common rooms and everything. Students who aren't home on break, kill them or keep them, whatever. Bigger blow, bigger message."

"That could work. But the Dark Lord has this Hogsmeade fetish. Maybe we could hit Hogsmeade afterwards?" Blaise shook her head. "Oh well, at least I have something to toss around at six." She shrugged. "Ginny?"

"Blaise?" Ginny turned to her as they exited the castle grounds.

"Do you think it's well… wise, bring a child up in this society?" She looked down directly. "I apologize, my queen."

"I'm nobody's queen, yet. Stand up, Blaise. I'm not offended. Just be careful whom you ask." She paused as they entered a shop with fireplaces. "And as to your question. I think you know the answer better than I. After all, you're the one that has to parent alone in a society where men dominate."

"Yeah." Blaise shrugged and smiled at Ginny shakily.

Ginny stroked the brush down the canvas and paused a moment to look across the park. She wasn't doing it any justice. "Rick?" He looked over and studied her painting.

"You need to put more variety in the way you hold the brush. You use different brushes and different strokes, but a lot depends on your grip. His strong hands grasped hers and tilted them moving her fingers awkwardly along the brush until she was almost holding it in a fist. "Now try that stroke for that shrub kind of thing over there."

Ginny sighed and did it. She glared at him a moment. It worked. "Damn you." She muttered. He laughed.

"Just experiment at home with all kinds of grips, on different brushes with different strokes. You'll be amazed at the spectrum of things that you can create."

"And you're just so tickled because you're right…" She dipped her brush. "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sick of painting. Pasta and wine?"

"Beautiful." He picked up the canvas he was working on, barely a quarter of the charcoal was filled in with paint.

"Getting slow, old man?" He glanced at her and at the painting as he folded up his easel and stuck it unceremoniously into the paint bucket.

"I was watching you. The way you work is… breathtaking, frankly." She grinned at him and pranced off.

"Are you surprised?" She asked.

"Not in the least bit." He sighed. They loaded the stuff in the back of the truck, and then Ginny climbed in for a night just like the good old times. She glanced back at the darkening park and the artists perched on the hill. There was a man with a few girls next to him, crouching on the grass, no more than 13, their knees pulled up their chests, heads cocked in admiration as he worked. She glanced over at Rick who was flipping through his many keys in search of the one that would start the beast. She sighed. The good old times. Right.

The attack had happened the day after Blaise had moved in. She admitted that she was terrified when the Death Eaters jostled her away from her Haley, who sat screaming in her crib until Blaise could reach her again. While the Order had put all their strength into Hogsmeade, Hogwarts had been turned on end. A few students had been picked off, a few Hufflepuffs that neither she or Harry knew. Then, when the Order had realized what was going on, the Death Eaters had a heyday with Hogsmeade. After her parents had left Ginny had cried into Harry's shoulder, truly cried, she wasn't ready for them to go yet.

They had all sat around the living room silently, Christmas presents and wrapping still scattered around underfoot. Everyone excepting Harry, Hermione, Ron and her had gone to the attack. Sipping from chipped mugs of tea, they had stayed that way as the night wore on. Finally, at five in the morning, Molly Weasley had stumbled in and headed straight to bed. "How many did we lose?" Ginny had asked her Father as he accepted a mug of tea and collapsed on a sagging armchair.

"None from the order. They were throwing killing curses left and right, but only ministry people caught those. They lost about twenty good men and women."

"And Death Eaters?"

"Three. Hinckley Crabbe, Victor Bulstrode, and…" He pumped his fist in the air. "Lucius Malfoy." Ginny's mug had crashed to the floor, shattering. She stepped directly onto the shards, not realizing it even as she trailed bloody footprints to her room, where a smudged letter awaited her on her desk.

It was her first night back. Vincent wailed as Gregory rocked him gently and kissed him softly on his forehead and neck. Millicent Bulstrode sat stonily in a corner, little slivers of firelight managing to crackle across her face and reveal the glare of the tears she pretended she wasn't crying. And Draco. She held him, even as he remained cool and calm, working on the first homework after the holiday. The only indication he hurt was in his firm grip on her arm, white knuckled and shaking. She was still shaking and miserable from their run around the lake, sheets of rain causing the path they had worn to turn to mud so that they slipped and fell at least a hundred times. Ginny had crouched in the shower afterwards and cried miserably until Madam Pomfrey had come to collect them.

"Professor Oscar." Ginny waved to Blaise who was headed out the door with a diaper bag slung over one shoulder and Haley strapped to her front in a carrier. No one but she and Draco knew of the new Slytherin head's true identity. "How was your first day?" She asked.

"Well. I spent part of the break just cleaning everything up after the attack… and then the rest doing all my lesson plans. I didn't spend as much time as I would've liked on them, but they all seemed to be working out just fine. Such a bright school. Still, it's a shame. Tell me, Ms. Wosley."

"Weasley." Ginny corrected her, following Blaise's gaze to the first years across the table.

"Why don't you give me a hand in the kitchen. Do you like babies?"

"I love babies."

"And what about you Mr. Malkin?"

"I adore them." He said dryly. "And it's Malfoy, Professor Shitforbrains." All the students turned to look at Blaise's reaction.

"Eat my brains, Mr. Malkin." She emphasized the last name. There was a collective release of breath and an appreciative chuckle as Ginny and Draco collected their things and followed her out. They passed the closed Potions classroom on the way out of the dungeons. Ginny hadn't been in yet, but Blaise stopped by to pick something up. Ginny was amazed. Sprigs of lavender hung from the ceiling and incense (she had to give the Dark Lord credit for that prediction) burned on elaborate hangers about the room. "It's girly, I know." Blaise shifted Haley slightly as she picked up a canvas messenger bag from the floor.

"I like it." Ginny said, moving the diaper bag to the same shoulder as her bag.

"Cheers." Draco said dryly. "You're not even that bad of a teacher, Oscar."

"Cheers." Blaise drawled, rolling her eyes at Draco. In the kitchen they fixed up a bottle of formula for Haley and hot chocolate for themselves, the door slid open at one point and then closed softly.

"Nice cloak, Potter." Draco said, glancing at Ginny out of the corner of her eye, shrugging. Harry appeared in a moment, looking sheepishly at them.

"Hi honey." He said softly, glancing between the two of them.

"Hullo Harry. We've just gotten out of study. The rain nearly killed me at the lake, so I went to get hot chocolate and I ran into Professor Oscar and Malfoy, here. It's been a party."

"You lowly Gryffindors wouldn't know a party if it bit you in the ass." Draco drained his hot chocolate and refilled it from the pan. "There now you can have some, only let me pour it for you."

"How thoughtful. Let me guess, you wouldn't want my Muggle loving hands touching your sacred pureblood cocoa?" Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that's about right." Draco filled her mug. She sipped from it dryly. Blaise shook the bottle of formula once she took it off the stove and tested it on her wrist.

"You want to feed her, Ms. Weasley?" Harry disappeared inside the pantry, and reappeared with his arms full of food which he dropped on the counter.

"Pureblood cocoa, Potter?" Draco picked up the pan and filled another mug. Harry took a sip before walked over to the cabinet of pots and pans. Ginny took Haley from Blaise and cradled her gently, putting the nipple of the bottle against her mouth. She took it and looked right up at, Ginny, who was breath taken. Those warm trusting eyes. Ginny had taken away this child's father.

"Why don't you just warm the bottle with your wand, Professor?"

"Never comes out just right. Believe me, I've tried. Doing it the Muggle way is tiresome and it takes forever." Blaise jumped onto the counter and drank from her mug.

"What'd you do today?" Harry asked politely, chopping up vegetables and dumping them into the pot.

"Oh you know, classes and then detention with this squirming pile of haggis." Ginny jerked her head towards Draco, who glanced at her and then shrugged.

"I don't need your Muggle loving approval, considering who you dish it out to so readily."

"Who's that?" Ginny asked.

"Muggles." Draco paused. "Obviously."

"When did you get so witty, Malfoy? Or hadn't you realized that you used the same line over and over and over…" Ginny said.

"I'm a Muggle lover." Harry shrugged. "I can think of worse things."

"Oh yeah, like what?" Draco asked.

"I guess we're kind of in the same boat. Both our father's are dead. And your mother might as well be…" Harry was clenching his wand. Draco's jaw tightened visibly and a muscle next to his eye twitched.

"Harry." Ginny laid a hand on his arm and he looked into her flashing eyes. "Put yourself in his place. For just once…" Harry raised his shaking wand and pointed it straight at Draco. Time stopped. Abruptly he turned it away sent dishes clattering all over, making a soup that smelled delicious.

"I can't believe you're taking his side, Ginny." He said between clenched teeth.

"It could easily be you, Harry Potter." Haley finished her bottle suddenly and released the nipple with a gentle pop as the suction moved away. Blaise, watching as if a tennis match were between Draco and Harry, handed her a rag which Ginny threw over her shoulder, she patted Haley's back gently. "No matter what…" She continued. "side you are on, both of you have lost parents. No matter what, they are dead. What they fought for, right or wrong is a legacy that no one has the right to step on. Do not mock the death of his father anymore than you would have him do the same to you."

Draco picked up an empty mug and threw it against the wall. It burst into little pieces. "God, I wish that was you, Harry Potter." He said. He headed for the door.

"What, you won't stick around for Mudblood Chicken Soup?" Harry asked. Draco turned around and a sardonic smile twisted his lips.

"Never before bedtime, Potter."

The rest of the year passed quickly and quietly. At a request from Tom, she asked Dumbledore if she could try for her NEWTS this year, instead of the next. He had been unable to disagree, though she could tell that he wanted her to fail them. She probably would, come to that, but if Tom wanted her to try. She spent almost all her time wooing Harry. But every minute she could spare, she spent falling further and further in love with Draco. The nights she could get away from Harry were the best. Making love far into the morning, then watching the sunrise over the Forbidden Forest by broomstick.

Haley was crawling, just barely. Half the time she still just rocked back and forth on her blanket, receiving encouragement from all the Slytherins. She had become their own. Her hair came in blond, and her eyes remained vividly blue. Her giggling, cherubic face was a beacon of light for Ginny as the year wore on.

"Your last detention." Blaise said softly, leaning back into the warm June sunshine. She was proctoring this final event. Haley was napping on the blanket where they all crouched.

"Yeah." Ginny held Draco's hand as they started an even jog around the lake.

"I'll miss it." Draco admitted.

"You'd better." Ginny grinned. "I've never been in such great shape. Or spent this much time studying."

"Yeah… Do you think you'll pass?" He asked her this daily.

"I don't know. Part of me hopes that I can, and another wants to stay locked in the walls of Hogwarts for ever."

"Hoggy Warty Hogwarts." Draco hummed.

"You sing the school song to 'Hello, My Ragtime Girl'?" Ginny laughed.

"Yeah, so what?"

"It's Muggle and it's corny."

"So you don't use a corny Muggle song?"

"Yes, I do." She panted.

"What?"

"It's called Ice Cream."

"Really." Draco sped up and left her in the dust. She laughed.

"How do you think you did?" She kissed Harry and he grinned down at her.

"I'm sure I passed. With mostly acceptables. And maybe a few outstandings."

"Excellent…" She mused, dancing around him gaily.

"And how about you?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her and hauling her up against him.

"Well, actually. Passing. Actually graduating…" Ginny shrugged. "We'll see." Draco bumped into her. He gave her a little thumb's up as they glared at each other for a moment. "I'm so glad I'm out of detention with that little wretch." She fumed, glancing at Harry to see if he had grasped what was going on. He hadn't.

"Yeah." He grabbed onto her tightly. "Yeah."

"Oh my goodness." Hermione skidded straight into Ginny and they went tumbling over. Ginny lay inert on the stone floor while Hermione panted into her face.

"How'd you do then?" Ginny asked politely.

"All Outstandings… I'm sure of it." Hermione got up and offered Ginny a hand, dancing wildly. "I can do anything you can do… BETTER!" She continued to dance, grabbing onto Ron's hand and kissing him on the mouth, hard. Ginny and Harry's jaws dropped open and they glanced at each other, finally bursting out laughing. They continued to do so all the way up to the common room.

"Hades?" Ginny looked at the beautiful eagle owl perched on the window outside the common room, she cracked open the window and let her in, where she dropped a letter in her lap and continued a circle that took her straight out the window again.

"Whose owl is that?" Harry asked, trying to look at the letter as Ginny tucked it in her bag.

"Bill's." She lied smoothly. "I'm going to go change into something more comfortable, and then do you want to go down to the lake or something?"

"Sure." He glanced at her bag and then smiled, warmly, but uncertainly. "Yeah, that sounds great."

"Good." Ginny climbed the stairs. Why was Narcissa sending her an owl?

_Ginny,_

_Congratulations. You passed the NEWTS. Now don't worry, you probably passed them on your own. But just in case, a hand was at work to ensure that you're out of Hogwarts by this upcoming year. And we'll need your help this summer with upcoming plans of a nature you may yet be unsure of. We'll discuss._

_We've also arranged for your use of a flat in London, once used by my dear, departed husband. There will be people to help you move (MAGICAL MOVERS INC.) once you return home. Make your excuses. _

_Initiation is a week after term ends, I know you already know this, but I'm supposed to reiterate that we do not want to see you until that day. Draco will come to help you at 7 'o clock that night precisely. _

_Again, Congratulations. _

_Narcissa Malfoy_

_Official Secretary of the Headquarters of the Dark Movement_

_P.S. Isn't it wild and just a touch romantic? _

Ginny wasn't sure what was wild and just a touch romantic, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She pulled on shorts and a tank top, running down the stairs, tying up her hair, watching Harry at the bottom flipping through a book. "Let's go." She said. He surveyed her for a second and Ginny blushed.

"Merlin, I love you." He said softly, picking her up and kissing her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and returned it, sighing into his mouth. "You're a queen. My queen." She paused and looked into his eyes. She wasn't sure what feeling bubbled when he spoke that way, but it surged with strength through her veins and into the back of her throat. This time next year, Harry Potter would probably be dead.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Potter." She said coyly, then burst out laughing as he threw her in a fireman's carry and started up the stairs up to the boy's dorm. She swallowed the laugh quickly as they passed a fifth year prefect, who simply smiled and shook his head. As Harry kicked the door open, she was surprised for a moment as regret washed over her. He looked deep into her eyes. She looked away as her mind delved in and saw pictures. Of a wedding day, of chubby toddlers and tussle haired children weaving around their ankles, of a real family finally within his grasp, of her by his side through gray hairs and rough times, forever.

Ginny surveyed the movers tiredly. It had been a long day and it would only go on. She would be lucky to be home by two tonight. She checked her watch, 6:30. She wouldn't have any time to unpack at all before Draco arrived. She had simply told her parents that they could come over the next day for a housewarming party, but tonight she wanted to put it in order. The glances they exchanged every time she talked nowadays was enough to let her know that they were still suspicious and that she would go insane if she stayed in the burrow more than a week.

"Can you sign this?" A burly man in purple robes asked her. She realized he had been sitting there for a little while.

"Oh, sure." She shook out of her thoughts, glancing over some form quickly and scrawling her signature across it with a flourish. He nodded to her.

"If there's anything damaged, you'll give us a call?" He asked. She nodded. The furniture was all where she wanted it, but she wanted to unpack the boxes by hand considering there were at least twenty more than what she had begun with. The flat was huge and elegant, she had no idea how to explain to her mother how she had afforded the place. She set up her studio with the boxes that had somehow known to be dropped in the spare bedroom. When she glanced at her watch she saw that it was minutes from seven.

"Shit, shit." She got undressed and took the single quickest shower of her life, before braiding her wet hair into plaits. She wore no make-up, as usual, and as she was searching for something to wear, Draco came into the bathroom, barely visible in the fogged up mirror, carrying robes and an attachable hood.

"Here you are." He pulled the robes onto her and she stared into the mirror, wiping away moisture. He also fitted the hood over her, she glanced through the slitted eyes into her own. He was wearing similar garb, the hood tucked under his arm.

"You ready?" She asked, her voice slightly muffled by the hood.

"Yeah. Take off your hood though, you look stupid with your braids coming out the back." Ginny blushed and pulled it off.

"My self confidence soars, Mr. Malfoy. All my thanks." She wove her braids quickly into coronet braids and replaced the hood. "Do we floo?"

"We Floo." Draco checked his watch and cursed. "And we better hurry."

Ginny watched as the long line of people, shaking with nerves, as they bowed before the Dark Lord and removed their hoods, pulling up their sleeves so that Lord Voldemort could lay his wand tip on their vulnerable forearms and blacken them with the tattoo of his army, then he thanked them and said their name to the few who gathered to witness the rather boring event. Narcissa had told her that getting the mark was 'going to smart a bit', but after Millie Bulstrode, one of the toughest girls Ginny knew, joined the ranks, crying hysterically and clutching her arm, Ginny guessed that smarting was a bit of an understatement. All of her Hogwarts friends had gone through, Crabbe and Goyle had taken it with a yelp, Draco with nothing but gritted teeth and Ginny saw, with a grin, a bit of a dance when he was safely behind everyone, probably swearing like a sailor under his breath.

There was a surprising amount of foreigners, students graduated from international schools and older witches and wizards, who sheepishly came forward and then practically crawled into rank. When it was finally her turn (she was the last, a fact that had haunted her since she had had to form alphabetical lines in her childhood in preschool. The only one who would have been behind her, Blaise, was at Hogwarts, and would not get her Dark Mark until a later date. No one thought it was wise to wander around with a symbol of evil pasted on your arm under the nose of Albus Dumbledore.) she pulled the hood from her head and knelt down, offering her arm. The wand was there a moment, and then a blinding pain shot through her, as if the promise she made by taking the mark was running through her veins as thickly as blood, making her feel for a moment all the pain she would cause. But the power was there radiating in the flash that bound her to the cause, the sweet power that she so craved. She bit her lip, not making a sound, though she felt a single tear run down her face. She looked into the Dark Lord's eyes. "I expect your gratitude and love for what I have granted you." Voldemort said softly, his red eyes flickering.

"Yes, my lord. I am yours." She said respectfully, though through gritted teeth, she wanted desperately to squeeze her throbbing arm.

"Virginia Weasley." Lord Voldemort announced to the throngs. She stood and pulled her sleeve down, wrinkling her nose angrily. Her arm hurt and she wanted to know why Tom wasn't giving her any acknowledgement above his other subjects. She walked away and stood beside an older man with a thick, unidentifiable accent at the very back. Voldemort had disappeared in the time she had taken to walk him back. Draco tapped her shoulder and motioned for her to follow Narcissa, who was waiting across the hall.

"Hello, my dear." She said warmly. "How is your arm?"

"Resentful, because it's dear friend lied and left it totally unprepared." She sniffed, but began giggling at Narcissa's smile. "So, I'm official."

"Not completely. Come with me." Narcissa opened the door and led Ginny into a corridor which she didn't recognize, but after winding and carrying on for a bit, led into ornate chambers which were rivaled only by the Dark Lord's. They were however, disgustingly pink. She wandered around the suite for a bit. "Your quarters, my queen." Narcissa said softly. Ginny whirled around, astonished.

"Mine?" She squeaked. Narcissa nodded.

"I designed them myself, sorry about the pink, _he_ insisted."

"What was the apartment for?" Ginny asked, flouncing onto a big, suede couch that was tied with ribbons and doilies.

"To maintain appearance. You'll probably not be in here very often, only when you're at headquarters or preparing for events, that sort of thing." Narcissa shrugged, then turned around and snapped her fingers. "Bitsy!" There was a sound like a whip cracking, and a delicate looking house elf in a frilly pink toga appeared and bowed before Ginny. "She's yours." Narcissa said. Ginny was surprised to see, on closer inspection, that the elf was wearing cosmetics, and that her fingers were adorned with rings and trinkets. Her batty ears were each pierced at least ten times in a neat glittering line, and even a stud twinkled from her little button nose. Her styled, feathery blond hair was swept back in a loose, elegant knot.

"Bitsy is here to serve mistress." The elf whispered in a breathy little voice.

"Ginny, please. I've never been served before in my life." The elf grinned a mouthful of pearly whites at Ginny and bowed again.

"She's a different sort, but I knew you'd like her. She's got ambitions this one, I'm not sure why, but all the elves in my household do. Possibly something in the water." Narcissa bent to kiss Ginny on the cheek. "Bitsy will get you sorted out." She bowed out of the room.

"So what are your ambitions, Bitsy?" Ginny asked, standing to walk around in the living room, the closet that was as large as her house, and the grand bedroom. The bathtub spoke of the one the Hogwarts prefects used, only the whole bathroom was a rosy sort of marble.

"Bitsy designs clothes." Bitsy said softly, jumping from footprint to footprint that Ginny left in the plush carpet. "Bitsy designed the gown that Ginny will wear tonight."

"Tonight?" She turned at looked into the earnest blue eyes that stared up at her.

"Tonight, Ginny. Bitsy must get the new queen ready when she will be crowned." Bitsy grasped Ginny's hand with hers and started dragging her towards the closet. The roughness of the palm didn't match the flowery elf that led her to the glittering, breathtaking gown in a dark corner of the closet. It was a deep blue, which was stitched with black opals. It fanned out widely, and Ginny thought that the piece of cloth that stretched out for many feet from where it was sewn at the middle of her back, was actually a train, until Bitsy started winding it around her in various ways, humming softly to herself. When she was finished, Ginny looked into the mirror and saw that it would have looked like any 16th century sort of dress, except for the low back and the cloth, which had been pinned so that it accented curves and pulled in the massive skirt in certain places. It was beautiful and perfect, and Ginny proceeded to tell Bitsy so. The elf giggled happily.

"No seriously, Bitsy. I feel like a queen in this." She whirled around.

"Ginny is a queen, Bitsy knows." The elf said seriously. Bitsy looked at the Dark Mark, which was a dark maroon at the moment, and slightly pink around the edges. It still hurt. The sleeves were three quarter length and cuffed, so that it was obvious on her arm. Bitsy styled her hair in a half knot and brushed make up on her face, and just as she was fitting on the last necklace after much jewelry, the Mark on Ginny's arm turned black and burned sharply for a moment as though someone had just used her arm to light a match. "It's time for you to go." Bitsy shoved shoes onto Ginny's feet and then pushed her out the door, shutting it firmly behind her.

Ginny walked shakily along the corridor back to where she came from. It curved where she didn't remember it turning before. She opened the door and instead of coming out into a dark corner, she was at the top of a staircase. An invisible staircase. She would have to talk to Tom about that, the Death Eaters were going to set their eyes on their queen for the first time, while she ate shit on what would appear to be thin air. Oh well. "Here goes nothing." She whispered, stepping carefully onto what she assumed to be the first stair. She was jarred a little as it turned out to be the edge of the first stair. She teetered a little but recovered enough not to go rolling into the midst of the awed crowd before her. She snorted a little. There was a woman serving punch from a big crystal bowl, with a sherbet ring in the middle. Lord Voldemort was such a dork.

"I present to you, your queen." He said in a quiet voice. She tried to look queenly as all the assembled Death Eaters dropped simultaneously to the ground. It was a little difficult to look splendid and grand and walk on thin air at the same time, but she managed. She looked down, about halfway, and saw Draco and Narcissa, bowing but giggling. She blushed. They were looking up her dress. It seemed like an eternity before she made it to the throne and knelt before it.

"My lord." She whispered. A weight was placed on her head, and then two cold fingers were under her chin and lifting her to her feet. She tried to glance over at the mirror in the corner and saw a corner of one of those ugly, hairy looking crowns from medieval times. She turned to look at her people, who continued to kneel before her. She walked out to each of them and thanked them for their loyalty and placed her wand on their Dark Marks. A vine crawled from the other side of the skull's mouth, and a small rose spouted, bowing to the snake. This was something they had discussed beforehand. The modification of the Dark Mark to serve both their purposes. She had wanted a sword cutting through the skull, but that got shot down. Ah, such is life. As she was bending over Pansy Parkinson, she chanced another look in the mirror. Oh yeah, every part the queen.

"So, what was this huge, important thing that we needed to discuss?" Ginny leaned back in her chair and looked sternly at Voldemort, who guiltily picked at an egg salad sandwich. His cholesterol was already sky high.

"A Hogwarts siege." Narcissa said from where she had been taking notes. As the official 'right hand man', she was fairly comfortable in the council meetings, even as the only other woman in a group of men. "We lure Dumbledore away, attack the school and seal it. Nott has been going over some ancient tomes, that sort of thing. He's discovered a spell that could be effective even against Dumbledore's level of magic. Nott."

Everyone turned towards the man, who shuffled his papers and cleared his throat a couple times officially. "Uh, well, thank you Narcissa." Narcissa nodded to him and motioned for him to continue. He began to clear his throat.

"I swear to you, I will torture it out of you if you don't hurry up." The Dark Lord said impatiently. Nott squeaked.

"Well. The spell that I have um, well, discovered as Narcissa put it, is a sort of freezing charm. You can apply it to the grounds of Hogwarts. Anyone who doesn't have the Dark Mark, as it can be applied to as well, who enters the Hogwarts grounds is instantly slowed down."

"How slow?" Ginny popped her gum and he jumped, looking around fearfully.

"Well, a minute goes by for every second of movement. Taking out your wand and saying a spell can take ten seconds, right? Well, ten minutes when under the influence of the spell. Roughly, it could be slower or faster, but not much." There were a lot of impressed nods around the table.

"What's the catch?" Ginny asked.

"The spell has to be performed once a day. But it's not complicated once the original groundwork is laid the first time. The first time will take about half an hour to perform, after that, maybe one minute."

"So will that leave a one minute window for the enemy each day?" Narcissa asked, wiping her face and leaving a smear of ink across her face.

"No. The spell can be performed while the previous day's is still effective. It's just a matter of timing it right day to day." Nott said.

"One minute earlier than the previous day and so on?" Lord Voldemort asked. "Who would be in charge of such a thing?"

"Any ability of magic will withhold the spell once it is mastered. Any properly trained Death Eater would have the power to once the ground work is laid. When it is first being performed I think it would be wise to have our two leaders enact the spell I have the manuscripts if both of you wanted to study up as it were. This summer should be plenty of time for all subjects to learn the spell and for you two to learn how to implement all of our variations into it."

"Does the spell cover every nook and cranny of Hogwarts?" Macnair asked.

"No, just the grounds. But it sticks to the castle and goes about 100 yards over, forming an upside down bowl. We can put detection spells around but not in the range of the spell. That way no one can fly over or approach from the forest without our knowing about it." He began to sit down once again.

"When you say it "sticks" to the castle, what do you mean?" Narcissa asked. Nott, stuck between sitting and standing seemed unsure what to do for a minute. He plunked down in his chair rather hard.

"Okay. Say a Hogwarts student opens a window and sticks their arm out. They would move at a normal pace until it gets past the windowsill, past the castle's limits. The moment they hit that space they can move the rest of their body normally, but what touches the spell moves slowly. If they try to curse us, we compose ourselves for a few minutes and step aside."

"People flooing in and out?" Voldemort asked.

"Actually sir, that's Linsey's department." Narcissa said. She pointed to the breathtakingly attractive man who stood regally and smoothly. He paused for a moment looking over them as though he were surprised he deigned to grace their presence.

"It is no mean feat to divert the floo networks of any one building with a variant of the confundus charm. The spell that I would use, I could choose a place to send the people who tried to Floo. I propose Antarctica." He sat gracefully amid hearty laughter.

Voldemort rubbed the table with the palms of his hands. "This could work, my death eaters, this could work."


	13. The Siege

Disclaimer – I don't own anything, so don't sue me.

Ginny rubbed her eyes and checked her watch, having to blink a few times to be sure of the time. Almost three. She opened her eyes wide and tried to focus on the parchment she had been poring over all night. She leaned back and unclipped her hair, itching her scalp. She went into the kitchen and put on the kettle. Bitsy, who followed Ginny between her apartment and headquarters, entered the kitchen silently.

"Is Ginny still up?" She sighed.

"Yes. I'm still trying to understand this spell." She groaned. "Trying and failing. I didn't mean to wake you, Bitsy."

"House elves is light sleepers, Ginny, as Bitsy has told you at least a hundred times." Bitsy commented lightly. The elf's face was free of make-up and she had smeared cold cream on and rolled her hair in curlers before she went to bed some hours ago. In the month since her coronation, Ginny had come to love the vain little elf, who designed all her gowns and accessories and who could only wear her stupid little pink toga. She had come to appreciate her as more of a roommate and friend than a servant, which suited Bitsy fine.

"You're a goddess, Bitsy." Ginny said, pushing herself onto the counter. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door. "Am I hallucinating?" She asked cautiously.

"Bitsy will finish in here while you get the door. Tell Bitsy if it is someone who will not see her."

"I will, that." Ginny padded across the kitchen and then across the wide front room to the front door of her apartment. She pulled open the door. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Draco grinned sheepishly and lurched forward, blasting Ginny with powerful breath. "Ah, at another charity benefit at the church."

"I believe the vicar may have spiced the punch." Draco joked, stumbling in.

"Bitsy was just making some tea, would you care to join us or have you had quite enough to drink?"

"Funny how the thirstier you get the drunker you are." He collapsed at her table, his forehead thunking onto her papers. She cleaned them up quickly, sliding them back into the folder.

"I'll say." She took the mugs from Bitsy's tray and motioned for the elf to sit also. She went back for her own mug and reappeared, climbing onto the chair loaded with Ginny's old textbooks for her express use. Ginny grinned at the little elf, her face serious as her toes brushed against Ginny's second year DADA someone near the middle of the stack. "Drink up, Draco. And I daresay you'll need some of Bitsy's hangover remedy in the morning, if she's willing to make it yet again for you."

"I was just going over siege plans with Linsey nearby and I figured you were up to the same sort of thing and might want company."

"And it would be difficult to get home in one piece using any sort of magical transportation." Ginny grinned, yawning halfway through.

"Can you ever forgive me?" He said sleepily.   
"I might, if you agree to go to bed the second we finish our tea."

"Bitsy is finished. She is going to her room." Bitsy declared, sliding off of the books onto the floor.

"Good night." Ginny called, draining her own cup. Draco did the same, clearing the cups and managing to drop them both on the way to kitchen. Ginny finished clearing up and entered her bedroom to find Draco spread eagle across it, managing to take the whole thing up. She climbed onto the loveseat across the room, pulling a throw over herself, with the words of the spell going over and over in her mind as it had night after night as she fell into uneasy sleep as false dawn lit the windows.

Draco and Ginny often went out for coffee, in preparation for the siege in just under a month, sorting through stacks of parchment in, ironically, a small Muggle café a few blocks away from Ginny's apartment. It began to rain as they packed their things and kissed goodbye, Draco off to headquarters and Ginny off to the Burrow for dinner with her parents, the first evening she would spend away from her work in a month.

Molly welcomed her at the door. Ginny hadn't seen much of her parents since she moved away. She had brushed the apartment off as being something she could afford since she had lied about starting to sell the many pieces of art that remained locked in her Gringotts vault. Bitsy, after an awkward surprise visit, was on loan from a friend from Hogwarts so that she could continue to paint and afford the apartment that she didn't have time to clean.

Harry was in the kitchen and Ginny greeted him warmly with a kiss. Although they hadn't seen much of each other in the two months since graduation, it was mostly because Harry had entered Auror training mere days after he had left Hogwarts. He was able to make it to the apartment once a week at best, giving plenty of notice in advance because of his strict schedule.

It was only Ron, Hermione, Harry and her parents that night. Ron was still trying to earn acceptance into the Auror Academy that Harry and Hermione had been mere shoe-ins to. In the meantime, he was working in Flourish and Blotts to pay the rent on the apartment that he shared with Hermione and Harry. The strain on the threesome now that they couldn't be together in school was minimal, especially now that Hermione and Ron were dating, and may have made it to first base. Dinner was quiet and candle-lit. Ginny and Hermione went out into the back garden to stretch out across lawn chairs while Harry and Ron cleaned up. Molly and Arthur had gone for the post dinner walks that were now a part of their empty nest routine.

"I'm thinking of dropping out of Auror Academy." Hermione said, lighting up a cigarette.

"Those are bad for you." Ginny remarked.

"School stress. It got to me, especially since everyone back home is now quite addicted to it, unlike when I was actually hanging out with them when I was eleven years old." Hermione shrugged.

"I bet Ron hates it." Ginny giggled. Hermione cackled.

"To such a degree it almost makes it worth it to smoke until I've got lung cancer and small fetuses. Aren't you going to comment on the other thing?"

"Why?" Ginny shrugged. "It's your choice, and you've always made responsible decisions in the past. You must have a good reason."

"I want to work in the Muggle Integration field for awhile." Hermione admitted.

"Raising Muggle awareness of wizards? That's so below an Auror it hurts, you won't get paid jack."

"Not if you go to college and graduate school. Than, it's not just a single department job. Which is a joke because it's just a bunch of Mudbloods in denial about their stations." Hermione winced. "I just said that, I know. But if you go through school and get the degrees, it's possible to function within every department with inservice training on how their department might affect Muggle lives and how to make the impact minimal. We also educate the wizarding world about Muggle affairs to better understand the world outside ours." She shrugged. "It's less about bringing Muggles into the wizarding world as to make sure that their lives aren't touched by our affairs. The Muggle Integration department is a bunch of idealistic morons who are like beauty queens constantly bleating about world peace."

"Tell me how you really feel." Ginny joked.

"I just feel like an Auror is the hero of the wizarding world. The job that I hope to fill, raises our people's Muggle awareness, so that maybe Aurors won't have to be the heroes around Lord Voldemort, you know? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right?"

"Sure." Ginny shrugged.

"And right now, we're trying to cure something that can be treated with prevention. I guess I just feel like I always do the practical thing, and one more Auror, though I would make a helluva an Auror, seems like something unpractical, which isn't me at all."

"It sounds like you've thought this out a lot, Hermione. I say full speed ahead. Have you talked to Ron or Harry?"

"Not yet. I knew that you would listen objectively though, Gin, so I thought that I'd run the idea by you first." Hermione finished her cigarette and stubbed it out, looking over the sunset, the rain hadn't extended as far as the Burrow, something Ginny was grateful for. The screen door slammed out front and the girls climbed to their feet to greet Molly and Arthur. The boys were finishing up and Harry wiped his hands.

"We should all probably run, Hermione and I have class early in the morning. And Ron has work." They all disappeared through the fireplace.

"Yeah, I have work that I need to do back at the apartment. I gave Bitsy the night off, so I simply have to clean." Ginny said eagerly, making a mad leap for the fireplace. She barely saw her parents waving, looking as suspicious as they always did in her presence.

"How's Hogwarts?" Ginny bobbed an 11 – month – old Haley on her lap, making faces at her.

"Ball." Haley said insistently, as she had been for the past hour. Although she had an extensive vocabulary, and could walk quite well, she still preferred to wander around on her knees and use her three favorite words, "mum", "ball" and "shit".

"Good. I'm just working on my lesson plans and being the world's greatest mother." Blaise said, handing Haley a sippy cup. "She only gets bottles at night now and it's really pissing her off."

"No." Haley waved the cup at her mother, frowning. She banged the cup on the counter. "No." She said to Ginny. They were having lunch at headquarters, the first time Ginny had been able to see her friend in person since the beginning of the summer.

"Ginny, I know that you're queen and everything, but can I tell you something, as a friend?" Blaise asked quietly, glancing around.

"Sure." Ginny picked up the baby and bounced her gently in the air. "Let's go for a walk outside."

"Shit." Was the gleeful reaction. Blaise rolled her eyes.

"This is what I get for bringing her up with teenagers. Although, I think Madam Pomfrey, who watches her during the day, may have taught her most of her foul language." She sighed. Ginny laughed.

"It's endearing, really." They spread a blanket under a tree, Haley shuffled on her knees, wavering between the leafy shade and the warm summer sun. "So, what's up?"

"You're going to think, I'm crazy, and you'll probably want to kill me, which I suppose is okay if Haley is looked after-"

"Blaise." Ginny looked at her friend with wild eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm kind of enjoying just being a teacher and a mother. I don't know if I want to be involved in all this crap right now. I don't have the mark yet. Why couldn't I just-?"

"You can never just… you've already given your servitude to the Dark Lord. You're in it for life unless you plan on overthrowing the Dark Lord, and if you are, I don't want to hear anything about it, understand? You're my friend, Blaise, but you can't bring this up with me, because it's treason, and anything that hurts the Dark Lord hurts me. I'll do my best to keep your involvement minimal in the siege, but I don't know what to tell you otherwise."

"Thank you." Blaise said softly. They watched Haley for a moment and she looked at them, grinning. "But can you understand, can you tell me that much, Gin?"

"Yes." Ginny said, looking down. "Yes, I can."

"Shit!" Haley cried.

"Ok, one more time before bed." Ginny told Voldemort who was looking worn. It was ten 'o clock in the morning on September 1st. They had three days to get perfect the spell that was mediocre at best after three months. August was spent mostly with three hours of sleep per night. They kneeled with their wands pointed to the ground, it was an unusual spell, making it so difficult. The theory had taken a month before she was ready, another month of theory to work in their variations, the final month spent practicing the spell with often interesting, though incorrect, results. It was a spell used mostly by raiders in ancient times. The problem was, all the Death Eaters couldn't be there at the origination of the spell and so they couldn't physically encompass them into the spell.

Queen Virginia and Lord Voldemort requested the bounds of their spell and then the group they wished to include, she could feel the magic touching the brand they talked about, it made her arm itch horribly. They combined their magic and then spread it out around headquarters, they cut the resource from themselves and Ginny stood, soaked in sweat and teetering a little. "Okay, Blaise!" She called, taking a gulp of water from her water bottle. Blaise walked through the open door of headquarters.

"Normal." She did a little dance on the threshold.

"Walk through for a little while just to see if it affects you anywhere." Ginny called. Blaise appeared a few minutes later and shrugged. Ginny and Tom exchanged looks and then Ginny shrugged. "I don't even care at this point. I haven't slept in 26 hours. I deserve at least two before we try again." Voldemort nodded and they walked into the house. Ginny groaned as a cool sensation washed over and simply sat on the floor to sleep. It took her ten minutes. But she wasn't worried, it would take anyone with a dark mark hours to investigate why they were moving so slowly.

"That's it!" Ginny picked up a porcelain lawn ornament and shattered it against the wall. "I've had a half hour of sleep and this isn't getting any better. Fuck the siege, I'd go for a decent night's sleep over world domination at this point."

Blaise watched them, rolling around in the ground next to the tree and shut her book with a sigh, checking on Haley briefly before standing and walking over to them.

"Virginia, my love, I know what the problem is." She said softly, looking slightly nervous as the crazy looking, red- eyed queen wheeled to look at her. "Seeing as you're inches from insanity it might seem crazy to define it, but you're trying the same thing over and over expecting different results."

"We've had different results," Ginny said testily, "Just none of them have been the right ones."

"Well, instead of identifying the Death Eaters in the spell, identify everybody whom you haven't given the Dark Mark to. And be careful that no body tries to get a Dark Mark tattoo and walk through and have it work, okay?" She smiled sweetly. "Just humor me, you have nothing to lose."

"Okay." The Dark Lord said hoarsely. "Why not?"

Blaise and Ginny did a victory dance before Ginny collapsed on September 3rd. It took Ginny 15 seconds. Blaise was dancing for 20 minutes.

Ginny slept for twenty hours, next to the snoring Dark Lord. She awoke at 1 in the afternoon, sliding out from under the covers and walking to the kitchen. Blaise had gone back to Hogwarts with Haley after she had fallen asleep. Draco was making himself a ham sandwich, quietly in discussion with Bellatrix Lestrange. They both stood at her arrival, bowing deeply.

"If you truly loved your queen, you would make me a sandwich. I'm ravenous." She said softly, stretching. The others winced as everything in her body seemed to snap and pop. Bellatrix stood to make her a sandwich. "What were you talking about?" Ginny asked, collapsing at the table, her face buried in her arms. She looked up just in time to see them exchanging looks.

"Just plans for the siege, queen. We're both on the initial force." Bella said.

"I'm aware. I'm proud to say I know this siege in and out." Ginny said.

"Do you think it's a wise idea?" Bellatrix asked casually. Too casually.

"I do what my lord tells me." Ginny shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I've been laboring so at making it function correctly, I haven't actually thought about what we're doing as much as I should have perhaps. Do you have concerns?" She raised her eyebrows as they exchanged a second glance. She didn't like being left out of their secret, and a little bud of jealousy uncurled in her chest. "I order you to tell me what your concerns are." She said harshly. "I will hear them without any repercussions to you." She added as an afterthought, somewhat sheepishly. There was still a bit of reluctance in the air as Bella plunked a sandwich in front of her. She bit into it.

"To tell you the truth, the more I think about it, I don't see the intentions behind the siege. On one hand, it will give us more followers, but not necessarily loyal ones. Starving out future Death Eaters, hardly seems wise. And why occupy so many Death Eaters in one place for a long period of time when they could be on the front lines against the ministry in actual political legislation?" Ginny said through a full mouth, she swallowed. Draco smiled and used his thumb to wipe mayonnaise from her upper lip. She blushed and bowed her head.

"Exactly. Those are our concerns, but as always we support the Dark Lord." He said softly, still looking at her with his warm eyes.

"But it seems as though we're wasting our time on his personal vendetta against Dumbledore, who can gain great strength on the outside when we pull such a bold move against the heart of the wizarding world." Bella looked at her nails. "I loved Hogwarts. It was my haven and one of my reasons for becoming a Death Eater. For the companionship provided within the Slytherin common room and the love granted to me by the Dark Lord where previously I had known none. It is in my blood to hate Muggles and what they do to our world, but this comes second to the society I know and understand and fit into." The others listened with quiet awe, her rough voice soothing.

"Ditto." Ginny laughed. "But the thing is, we follow the Dark Lord and he loves us, and that is why we endure the torture, the struggles and personal grievances. Because there is the underlying importance of love, that is why we remain loyal." She was in her own thoughtful world, and didn't see the final glance that Bellatrix and Draco exchanged.

The sunlight was warm on Ginny's skin as she stretched out on a blanket, dozing after a thoroughly enjoyable picnic lunch and an equally enjoyable post-picnic shag. Draco was climbing rocks and being manly. She watched him through heavy eyelids. He collapsed on the blanket next to her, she rolled onto her arm to look at him.

"Hi." She said softly.

"Hey, you." He whispered. "Anyone ever tell you you're beautiful?"

"Not often enough." She giggled. It felt good, laying out naked in the September sun with Draco. They were tucked into a back corner of Malfoy Estate, where no one would happen upon them. She felt carefree and content for the first time in months.

"Well, you are. Can you imagine how good-looking our children are going to be?" He said softly, shaking his hair back from his face.

"Only if they follow me in looks, but it's not a far reach." She grinned at him and then chewed on her lip. "God, we would have beautiful children." She said, her eyes filling. "And imagine our wedding. Our parents glaring at each other. Ron trying to attack you in the middle of the ceremony." She snorted.

"I'd rather imagine our wedding night." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed shakily, still crying. "Hey, hey." He wiped away her tears. "Why the waterworks, my love? Don't you want that?"

"I want nothing more." She cried. "But it will never happen for us, Draco."

"The Dark Lord is old… you can retire and we'll shack up." He said desperately.

"Everyone knows he wants to become immortal, Draco, and if I know Tom, he'll succeed. And I've bound myself to this and -" Ginny shook her head.

"I hate him." Draco said bitterly.

"Don't say that, Draco, I don't want to think I've turned you away from this." Ginny said quietly.

"It has nothing to do with what it did in the beginning. It's all about the Dark Lord getting his jollies off and Death Eaters providing the man power for it. Where is the Anti-Muggle legislation that was promised for years before he went out of power? Every attack, every single thing we have done has been for the Dark Lord's personal benefit. Azkaban… more people. Hogwarts, Hogsmeade… he hates Dumbledore. What do Harry Potter and Dumbledore have to with phasing Muggles out of the wizarding world?" Draco asked angrily. "Very little."

Ginny didn't answer, she just stared at Draco, his expression stormy. She reached out and rubbed the frown lines with her fingers until his face softened.

"Our first little girl has blonde ringlets and a serious attitude. She bosses around everyone, but she has your good nature and so everyone loves her. Our second is a little boy, and you get stretch marks on your breasts that you rub cream on to make them disappear even though I make sure I kiss them every time we make love. We know he'll be as good a seeker as his father, even though his hair is a flaming Weasley red, because when he's a baby he reaches out and grabs onto your fingers and squeezes them, so gently, but enough to keep you there. I'm starting to get fat by the time our third one arrives-" Draco broke down then and they laid facing each other, foreheads meeting in a silent prayer, though Ginny wasn't sure exactly what to pray for, knowing only that that the area of gray had expanded to encompass her whole world.

Bitsy was dying Ginny's hair the Muggle way, and Ginny wasn't sure exactly why, because it smelled to all hell. The bathroom still smelled as Ginny dried her hair with her wand and stared at the foreign looking face in the mirror, surrounded by midnight black hair. "And this will wash out?" Ginny asked again, glancing back at the elf who was getting the last of the dye out of the pink marble.

"Ginny worries too much." The elf said simply, pushing her to the closet to put her into yet another ornate gown.

"I don't understand why I have to dress up for this. No one is going to see me, and if they do they're supposed to recognize me, black hair, you know. But they will recognize me." She fussed, looking at herself in the mirror as Bitsy looked exasperated and tried to pin the dress into place.

Finally, Bitsy tied her hair up in an elaborate knot and went back into the closet. "No makeup?" Ginny groaned. Bitsy came back.

"No makeup." She said grumpily. "Could not cover crying anyway." Ginny blushed and shifted uncomfortably. Bitsy held up what she held in hands and waved it side to side. "No one recognizes Ginny." It was a netting that hooked around Ginny's chin and ears and then stretched over her face to attach to a clip at the base the knot that rose at the top of her head. Ginny looked in the mirror, she could see fine, the netting hid who she was, but she didn't have the squashed features of someone who was about to rob a convenience store. She stepped into her heels and walked out of the room, after a moment she stuck her head back in.

"Thank you, Bitsy." She said softly, hoping that Bitsy could see the apologetic smile she was offering.

"Bitsy is going back to the flat. She will not wait up." Bitsy said pertly, where she was already starting to clean. Ginny closed the door and met the Dark Lord in the corridor.

"Dumbledore just left the grounds." Voldemort said as Ginny reached up and grabbed his arm and they stood regally on a balcony over the initial force. She waved at the hooded figures, and they looked up at her. "Are you ready?" She looked over and met his cold eyes. "My queen?"

As the spell spread from where Ginny and Voldemort knelt on the ground near the lake, there was a murmur beginning to grow in the castle, they were probably seeing the crowd of Death Eaters at the gates to the grounds, waiting for Voldemort to signal their entrance. When they stood stiffly, after nearly an hour of calculations on the ground, Voldemort laid two fingers on the Dark Mark standing out against her arm in the moonlight. She bit her lip as pain shot through her arm and the Death Eaters began to flood into the grounds. Ginny walked quickly and quietly towards Hogsmeade, trying to get away before the camps were made, she turned back once to see Blaise running out, supposedly to check on what was going on, but really to see if the spell had worked. Draco, as planned, picked her up with his magic and threw her back inside. It had worked. It had actually worked so far, but after this afternoon, she wasn't so sure this was a cause for jubilation.

She took all her clothes off at headquarters and put on comfy Muggle clothes, painting at the apartment, dark angry strokes not really taking any sort of shape. Bitsy watched her quietly, drinking tea and working on her own drawings, new designs. Bitsy stirred the tea with her pinky. "It is his eye." She said suddenly, with genuine fear in her voice. Ginny shivered and dropped the paintbrush onto her towel. It was true. She had just painted the Dark Lord's eye, red and staring. She was absolutely hypnotized. A knock on the door jarred her, and she pushed her hair under a hat before she answered, cursing herself for not washing it out right away.

She opened the door to her mother's urgent face. Molly Weasley heaved a great sigh before embracing her daughter. Ginny grunted as the air was quickly forced out of her lungs. "Mother, what are you doing?" She choked out.

"Hogwarts is under attack." Molly said.

"What can I do?" Ginny asked immediately, trying to look concerned and frantic. Molly reeled back for a moment and there was a sudden pause. Ginny had an epiphany. "You were checking on me." She swallowed and tears filled her eyes.

"Ginny, I-" Molly looked confused. She reached for her daughter.

"You were making sure that I wasn't attacking Hogwarts!" Ginny pulled away from her mother. "You don't trust me at all, do you?"

"As circumstances were, but you're here."

"You shouldn't have to check, Mother. I thought you were here wanting my help. I am the fastest besides Dumbledore, maybe, I could be an asset to the Order, but instead you are all so high and mighty that you wouldn't accept my help because of something outside my control when I was eleven years old." Ginny said tersely fighting back tears.

"Ginny, I never- we need your help now." Molly tried to sound consoling.

"At this point, I'd rather not be involved in something that inevitably involves my humiliation and deception." Ginny closed the door in her mother's face. Was she upset that her mother came to make sure she wasn't out setting camp up in the lawn of Hogwarts? Not really. Was this the perfect excuse not to have to see her family anymore? Yes. She had been aware for a little while that she needed to separate her emotions from her family and friends outside her kingdom. The time would come after the siege for blood traitors and Mudbloods to be cleansed from their world. At least that was what Tom had been saying, perhaps sensing some of the unease around his Death Eaters of late. It had given her some food for thought though.

What was Tom truly thinking about nowadays? Revenge and personal vendettas? Or a long plot that inevitably fulfilled all his promises to his Death Eaters? She wondered to herself also what her reasoning was. She didn't hate Mudbloods nearly as much as she thought that she should as queen of the Death Eaters. It was about power to her, and her easiest way of achieving it was this alliance with the Dark Lord. She sat down to sketch Bitsy, who was snoring on the little four poster Ginny had conjured up. The light sleep that Bitsy was always going on about was pure bullshit, Bitsy never woke up unless Ginny made a whole lot of noise.

As she rounded out the sketch she turned the page and Draco floated to the top of her mind. Probably sitting around with other members of the first to invade Hogwarts, drinking a beer behind the Dark Lord's back. They would see anyone coming a mile away anyway, she didn't care if they got a little drunk on the first night of a long nine months if everything went to plan. Draco. Was being Queen Virginia of the Dark Lord worth everything that she could have with him? She wasn't sure.

Ginny spat into the toilet and waited for the next wave of nausea to bring up the breakfast she wondered she had bothered to eat. She bumped against the ceramic rim and winced at her sore chest. Draco came in to rub her back. "Touch of the flu?"

"It must be." Ginny took the coffee he offered and leaned back against the toilet. "I haven't actually thrown up in… awhile. Not from being ill anyway."

"Are you running a temperature?" He pressed his hand against her forehead and then shrugged. "No fever. I don't know, Gin. You've been puking every day this week."

"At least it hasn't made my afternoons bad. Just sickness in the morning." She paused and looked at Draco. "Morning sickness." She said softly. "It couldn't be." She turned and vomited violently into the toilet. Draco scooped her hair back and scratched her head gently until she was able to wash her mouth out with water and walk with rubbery legs back to bed.

"You don't think… do you?" Draco asked, staring openly at her abdomen, which contained a still churning stomach.

"I'll have to get rid of it, Draco, you know that. If it is… but I don't know."

"When was the last time you were on the rag?" He asked scratching his face, and still gazing openly at her stomach. He dropped down so that her belly was at eye-level.

"About a week or so before the siege. I'll get a test, but you know what has to happen." She said mournfully. Draco finally looked up to meet her eyes.

"Would it be his?" He asked softly.

"No. I figure all the stuff he's been through and magical alteration would have rendered him sterile by now, so that even the Weasley fertility couldn't make an heir to the Dark Lord. Besides, the last time we… you know, was before the siege."

"If it is, if you are pregnant…" She winced, it was the first time either of them had said the word. "he doesn't come back from headquarters more than once a month. We could hide it."

"And then?" She asked angrily. "We don't know that yet, either, Draco. Just because he's only returned once since the beginning of the siege doesn't mean that it's going to become a pattern. Besides, no amount of disillusionment charms are going to disguise a big ol' preggers belly if he gets me naked." She frowned at him, but then her face softened considerably.

"Maybe if they continue to be attacked every day, and no one else learns the spell…" Draco said hopefully. "If you are…"

"If I am," Ginny agreed. The first month of the siege had been difficult at best. The Slytherins had left the castle and joined the Death Eaters within the first week. All other students were holding out so far. Dumbledore attacked the barrier every day, and the spell that Nott had been sure would take only a minute after the original groundwork, still took an hour everyday, and the Dark Lord was still the only one who could perform it. The initial force had retreated after three weeks and relief Death Eaters took a week. Draco would be there one week a month, but otherwise was free to sleep at Ginny's apartment. She couldn't participate in the siege, because of Harry, but she was kept posted daily from Voldemort and Blaise, incognito, described the already miserable conditions of Hogwarts.

The food stores were still going strong, but most students felt robbed of the outdoors, hovering near the windows constantly, faces pale from a month indoors. Blaise had taken to taking her class to the astrology tower and throwing open all the windows so that they could drink up the sunlight while she lectured. The common room was lonely without her students and although she had about ten first years from the other houses who had somehow managed to sneak in and slept around her room and in her bed, crying for their parents, she still remained lonely. She was spending her off hours with a Hufflepuff seventh year, which Professor McGonagall was watching from the sidelines, but had said nothing about.

Eric was quiet and good with Haley. They mostly talked in the empty common room. Professor Sprout occasionally stopping by to join them and raised her eyebrows at their relationship, but confessed to Blaise that she was a little jealous. "She actually told me, Gin, 'Elizabeth, you're young enough, the castle is in hiatus and I actually wish I had companionship on these lonely, fearful nights. Anyway, as far as the staff goes this is a pussy party, including Hagrid, especially Hagrid.'" Ginny had giggled and looked at her friend's big eyes, her blonde hair growing longer. She had plaited it and told Ginny she was going to bed soon. "My first years are going to be coming soon." She said softly. "These little girls. It can't be right. Our food will be gone by winter and all the plants in the greenhouse will have exhausted their crop value by then. They're just little girls, they don't understand politics. They don't understand why someone would starve them until they gave their lives away to him. Some of them are Muggle-born and they'll be killed if they try to join the ranks. I have to go…" Blaise's head disappeared from the fireplace with a pop, the only person granted access to a tiny fireplace located in a back storage room that no one knew was hooked up to the Floo network. Anyone else that attempted such a thing would end up with their head in a freezing snowy terrain in the middle of Antarctica. Linsey had held true to his word.

Harry was quiet when he and Ginny ate dinner at her apartment the next day. Although they had been introduced, lie in tow, Bitsy preferred to be away when Ginny had guests that she didn't know. Finally Ginny laid her silverware down impatiently.

"What's the matter? I didn't think my cooking was that bad." She said, smiling kindly at the brooding boy in front of her.

"Your mother has been after me again." He said softly, looking at his hands. "I just don't feel right about you and your parents on the outs." He confessed shrugging. Ginny sighed. The original little spat had turned into two full out yelling wars. After Molly and Ginny had thrown everything within in reach at each other the last time, Arthur had stepped in and they had been headed for a reconciliation before it had been painfully clear that Arthur was trying his hardest not to burst out with the accusations that Molly had been screaming minutes earlier. Ginny had left with the clear desire to never see them again, and had expressed it.

"I'm sorry that you're in the middle of this right now, honey, but I just can't. I'm sorry. I thought that maybe we would get along better when I wasn't living under the same roof, but that simply hasn't been the case."

"Yeah." Harry said. "I guess I just really wanted peace. I'm not really sure how to approach it really. I'm never really the peacemaker."

"You did good, and you can tell my mother that you tried but I'm a stubborn, spoiled little brat." Her mouth twitched in a smile. "And you're a good peacemaker. The best. You're going to save the world someday, Harry Potter." She told him.

"Don't remind me." He put his head in his hands.

"Ok, just because all your new teachers think that the sun shines out of your ass, and you're suddenly missing Snape because of it, doesn't mean that you don't deserve a little pampering." She wiggled her nose at him. "You need the confidence to defeat the Dark Lord." She crossed her fingers behind her back, as he wrinkled his nose and shook his head miserably. "Maybe you're not missing Snape."

"No. No, not really." He snorted and shook his head. "Merlin's beard, I know I'm supposed to mourn the death of an upstanding man or whatever, but seriously, I don't even a little bit. I was surprised, but never sad."

"Me either." She shrugged. "You could have knocked me over with a feather, but it would take a more forgiving woman than me to shed a tear. In fact, I think the tears shed over Severus Snape weren't enough to float a hat. I never want to be that way."

"Oh yeah, I want at least the amount it takes to float a hat." Harry said.

"I want the whole world to know. Like when the Pope or a queen dies. Flags at half-mast, you know, the works." Ginny sighed and looked Harry, who watched her with a puzzled expression. "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "So, this is barely awful." He grinned at her, pointing with his fork to the pasta she had slaved over.

"Barely awful… is that supposed to be a compliment, Mr. Potter?" She was smiling all the same. "Those who do not appreciate the noodles of this house, will not be escorted past the welcome mat, which shall grow fangs against such treason…"

"Yeah, yeah…" Harry waved his hand and they broke down into giggles, staring across at each other. Ginny's smile disappeared and she was thoughtful for a moment. Whenever Voldemort chose this boy's fate, she would lead him to it. And as he grinned at her, eyes equally glowing with warmth and love, she felt her resolve flicker. She shook her head and smiled shakily. She was being foolish, Harry's life meant her reign, and that was what was most important. Wasn't it? She laid a hand against her stomach. Wasn't it?

Ginny opened her closet, looking for one of the many gowns that Bitsy had managed to stuff into it. It was purple, a color she couldn't normally wear, but the elf had somehow made it work. Bitsy watched her from Ginny's bed, where she was alternating between dozing and sketching on another lazy, rainy day. Ginny had to wear something for tonight's report before her subjects and that gown was the only one that billowed in front . She saw a flash of it and fought her arm past layers of cloth to the back, when her hand hit something silky and cold, she raised her eyebrows and pulled it out. It was Harry's invisibility cloak, she held it up and looked at Bitsy curiously.

"Harry comes last week for dinner and leaves it here." Bitsy yawned and picked up her pencil. "Will Draco be back for Valentine's day?" She asked. Ginny checked the calendar on the wall.

"Day of. Another student tried to kill themselves."

"And?" Bitsy asked.

"I'm beginning to think they're all just calls for help, that or I've totally overestimated Hogwarts. They've all tried to jump off the Astronomy Tower." Ginny chuckled in spite of herself. "I know it's horrible, but they just drift slowly to the ground and Death Eaters either swarm them or put them back where they came from."

"Any new joiners since the first one?" Bitsy asked. Ravenclaw had been the first to break, with two prefects leaving to join the Death Eaters. They had eaten gratefully and been sent back to headquarters to await instructions from the Dark Lord, who was still stuck at Hogwarts. He had not been witness to Ginny's growing stomach, except for the few days that he was able to get away for a few hours, and then only for meetings. Harry had been busy 24/7 with a crash course in the Auror Academy before being sent out into the field just a few weeks after it began. Ron had gotten his acceptance and began intensive training, too.

"Dennis and Colin Creevey left the school building, but they're Muggle-born, so they were killed." Ginny shrugged. "So we've gotten four people who weren't expected to try to join us after almost five and a half months. And we had to kill two of them. I can see how very productive this has been." She shook her head. "You know, sometimes I don't wonder if Draco is right, even though it drives me nuts to say so." She looked at the cloak and then pulled it over herself.

"Where is Ginny going?" Bitsy didn't look up from where she had resumed sketching.

"I'll be back in time for you to do that thing to my hair and that magic you do to make me look, not knocked up." Ginny said, reaching for the Floo on her mantelpiece. "Lilacs and Primroses!" She yelled as she was swept away into the fireplace.

She dusted herself off and made sure that her hair was kept under the cloak, it wouldn't do for a chunk of red hair to wander around the halls of Hogwarts. The halls were deserted, Ginny checked. It wasn't time for any meals, but it was a Friday afternoon, no one needed to be in classes. She wandered around a little bit, and then saw a first year running down the corridor, she was panting, and her little face was gaunt, her eyes big and dark, seeming to stand out impossibly on her face. When Ginny entered the Great hall with the little girl, she saw every student there had the appearance. She realized it was the face of starvation. She looked up to the top table for teachers, but they were all blended in with students, who were having roast pork. One pig to share among all of them. Professor Oscar, Blaise, stood and tucked the little girl under her arm, giving her plate to the little girl and looking around for people missing. She was too skinny, Ginny imagined she hadn't been eating almost at all, despite what she had told Ginny.

Professor McGonagall was feeding Haley off of her plate. The toddler was the only one who looked as though she had been properly nourished. She bounced her sippy cup on the table and McGonagall filled it with fruit juice from her wand, jiggling the 17-month-old distractedly. The wizened Professor looked up at Blaise. "I think she's about ready for her nap, Elizabeth." Blaise smiled down at the little girl and cooed.

"I think you may be right, Minerva, thank the gods." She laughed. Professor McGonagall put her on the floor and she toddled into Madam Pomfrey's arms.

"Ooh, Elizabeth, can I put her down?" She asked, looking smiling at Blaise.

"I might allow you to…" Blaise joked. Then she leaned into the two of them, Ginny had to walk almost into their midst to hear her. "I need a rest. This is my second day in a row of not eating anything at all. Minerva, I want you to eat all you can get a hold of, and then look for any furniture we might have missed, and make sure you take someone along. I'll take the house elves entrance to the lake to try my hand at fishing again tonight."

"Elizabeth." McGonagall said sharply. "We need you here, if you were to get hurt or killed…"

"You would have one less mouth to feed." Blaise squeezed the older women's arm and held her arms out to Haley, who gratefully climbed into them. "I'll put her down, Poppy, we can have a nap together."

When they were headed towards the dungeons a figure broke off from the shadows and touched Blaise gently on the shoulder. "Eric." She breathed. "Why weren't you at the meal?"

"I wasn't hungry." He lied. His face was gaunt and his eyes tired and wide. Ginny shuddered as the tall youth coughed, one that seemed to radiate in his chest.

"You're making yourself sick," Blaise complained, saying the password and letting them into the Slytherin common room, it was quiet and a little dusty, and oddly, completely devoid of furniture. Sleeping bags and mattresses littered the floor, and Blaise straightened them out as she picked her way across the room to her quarters.

"You're making yourself sick. Watching out for the younger ones. Why can't I be brave too?" Eric asked, pointing his wand at candles, which seemed to unravel into blankets. He tossed these over the mattresses that only had sheets across them.

"Because I don't want you to be brave." Blaise was putting Haley down in her own bed. "I want you to be safe." She kissed her daughter, who grabbed her by the ears and looked deeply at her mother.

"When you're old, you die." She said seriously. "And the feetprints go away." Ginny was baffled by the sudden upswing in vocabulary and philosophy.

"Don't worry about it love." Blaise whispered, kissing her daughter again and straightening. Haley held her arms out to Eric as well, who laid his lips against the toddler's head lovingly.

"The only girl her age aware of mortality." He said jokingly to Blaise, who sighed and shuddered a little.

"It creeps me out." She admitted with a shiver.

"Let's go take a shower." He butted his forehead against hers gently.

"Okay. Hold on though, I have to get my loofah." She joked and he disappeared inside and she looked at the girl on the bed. "Ginny, we're meeting Draco in the astronomy tower at nine o' clock tonight." Her eyes found the exact spot where Ginny was standing and she smiled sweetly. "Don't be late."


	14. Following

Disclaimer – I do not own anything that relates to Harry Potter. I wish. I would probably screw it up anyway.

Ginny arrived early, bowing out of the report at its conclusion, instead of staying around to mingle. Voldemort shot her a look that reported exactly how he felt about this action, hissing, "Politics, politics," in her ear.

"I feel ill, Tom." She had finally snapped, and he looked taken aback, glancing around to see if anyone had witnessed the display. She leaned forward to kiss him dutifully and he gathered her in his arms for a moment. She relaxed into the grip, knowing that Bitsy's magic prevented him from feeling or seeing her swollen midsection, surprised by this show.

"I need you here, to give me strength. This siege has so wearied me and I must cast the spell at three 'o clock this morning." He whined and she smiled at him.

"Maybe I'll return if I'm feeling better. But right now, I need a little sleep. I've been going over the figures you gave me for three nights in a row. We're both working."

He groaned and looked to where people were gathered in various groups, talking quietly about the report they had just heard. Ginny had turned in positive figures, and carefully burned the negative ones, so people were buzzing about all the good the siege was doing.

Ginny shifted awkwardly in her dress and took the invisibility cloak off so she had somewhere to sit. The entire castle, as far as she could tell, was completely devoid of furniture. She wondered if all the common rooms were like the Slytherin common room, and even the beds were done away with. She wondered also, why the furniture was gone.

"Hey Gin." Draco crouched down beside her, brushing a lock of hair from her face. He touched her stomach and then searched her eyes puzzled.

"Bitsy's magic. I had to attend a report today talking about how the siege was so wonderful and forget what you've seen, this really is the best thing in the world. He actually had me burn all the negative reports, which were most of them. I found out that he's lying about contacting Fudge, too. Six months and no ransom yet." She said bitterly. "It makes sense, I guess. He wants them to be completely desperate before he makes his demands." Ginny shrugged. Draco grunted.

Blaise came quietly and swept with boneless grace to the floor. "Hello."

"Blaise, where is all the furniture?" Ginny asked.

"Remember the first day of Transfiguration, when McGonagall turned a desk into a pig? We're starving and we didn't make the necessary cuts at the beginning. We were using a classroom of furniture every meal. You have no idea how much food it takes to keep the castle fed. Too much. We're out of everything. We've finally moved onto beds, Slytherin is almost out, and the other kids are going to have to give up their beds soon. And then the chairs in the Great Hall, and then the tables…" She shrugged.

"The living conditions have diminished a lot outside the castle, as well." Draco reported. "The Dark Lord is furious about having to remain at the camps, and people are being tortured at least once a day. Our rations are being cut, and we could be hit with a curse at any time. Ginny just told me he hasn't made a ransom demand at the Ministry yet either, and he'll be in some temper when -."

"Hush, Draco." Blaise snapped and glanced suspiciously at Ginny, who couldn't breathe for a moment. Blaise, her dearest friend, not trusting her? "We won't talk about that for some months."

"Blaise…" Ginny said softly.

"No. Don't you dare speak to me. It's your fault I'm here and my child is suffering." Blaise said with venom.

"That's going a little far." Draco murmured.

"No, it's not. Queen Virginia, do you remember when I told you about the nastier aspects of our life?" She asked, climbing to her feet. Ginny nodded meekly, mirroring her gesture. "The bloodlust and the loss of familiarity, when everyone looks the same as they kill blindly?" Ginny nodded again. "This is worse. Because I'm on the receiving end. Every face on either side has a story that is as valid as any other. But one side never intended to hurt the other. These kids have done nothing wrong, and they starve and mourn for lives that they have every right to live."

"I've heard there's a lot more sex." Ginny said cynically.

"Affirming their life and staving off hunger." Blaise said without humor, whereas months before they would have laughed heartily, barely able to meet each other's eyes before breaking into hysterics. They were unconsciously moving closer and closer to one another. Their eyes burning and bodies tensing. "I would like to think that you wouldn't have asked me to stay in the castle had you known the consequences and weren't under the Dark Lord's influence. But that's hard for me now. Not once did you give me permission, as queen, to bow out of the situation in Hogwarts."

"So go, run away." Ginny said. "But if you do, you make me ill. You would be found and killed in a moment, because my orders are still below the Dark Lord and I could never persuade him to set you free, even for this mission. Would you leave your child motherless and the students that you're so eager to protect without a leader? I would like to think you wouldn't do that, but it's sort of hard for me now."

"Don't argue, please." Draco stood between the two of them. "It won't help anything." They ignored him, side-stepping so they were chest to chest.

"I won't leave now, I'm in too deep. But unless you're willing the overthrow the power that binds us both and still seduces you, I don't need to speak a word to you." She spat on the floor.

"Treason." Ginny said with bated breath. "I'll squash you, you Muggle-loving bitch. And I'll throw Haley to the dogs."

Blaise's face was white with rage and blood dripped from between clenched fists from her nails. "As you wish, my queen." She bowed low but her eyes never left Ginny's. The redhead shivered and stepped back into Draco's crossed arms. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

"I'm tired of being tortured." He said softly. "Our queen is denied the privilege of witnessing this aspect of servitude, so of course it does not exist as long as she remains blind." He removed his broom from where it lay and looked at her finally. Her eyes felt swollen as though she had been crying for hours, but she only began when she saw the deep, sad gaze that moved to her abdomen. "I already had a name, Gin, for her."

"Her?" She asked thickly.

"Our little girl with blonde ringlets. Vida Marie." He disappeared into the night, as silently as he had appeared. She turned her streaming eyes to Blaise, who looked at her with a hard, distant expression.

"Blaise, I'm so sorry. I would never-" She sobbed, but stopped abruptly, barely able to swallow a hiccup as Blaise slapped her full across the face.

"I never taught you anything." She said softly. "I'm the enemy, you never cry or apologize in front of me. Never reveal your weaknesses to the enemy."

"You're not." Ginny sputtered.

"Oh yes, I am. I will bring you and your lord down if it's the last thing I do." She laid her hand gently against Ginny's face. She flinched, she could feel the woman's pulse beneath the thin skin of her palm. "I'll leave you until you have your child. I will always accept your help if you choose to give it. You deserve to be a queen. And I know someone who would always treat you as such." Blaise kissed her on the forehead and stepped back. "Poor Ginny. You're in over your head." The astronomy tower rang with her humorless laugh. "Remember, we're the political power team, the two of us, dynamic duo, we can do anything. Help me rebuild our fragile world." She turned around and walked down the stairs. A shadow detached from the wall and followed her. Eric had been there the whole time.

"Happy Valentines Day." Two warm hands were laid on her stomach and she smiled silently, keeping her eyes closed tight.

"Do you still hate me?' Ginny asked.

"Sort of." Draco slid in bed with her, and she groaned as she felt his shoes slide in with him. "Enough to piss you off with what you're about to get hormonal about."

"It's not that abnormal to hate shoes in the bed." She whined, finally opening her eyes to look at gray eyes surrounded by a dozen long-stemmed roses. "You can't woo me with flowers." She grinned anyway. "Take your shoes off." He complied and she climbed out of bed long enough to call Bitsy into the room.

"Ginny must know how early it is." Bitsy said grumpily, taking the flowers and walking to the kitchen to put them in a vase. "Wood floors is cold on February mornings." Were her parting words.

"I could learn to love that elf," Draco said softly. Ginny snuggled next to him, inhaling deeply. "Let's talk about why I hate you."

"I like Vida Marie. I'm going to put her up for adoption." She put her chin on his chest and searched his eyes. "With a Muggle agency." Draco's lip curled, a careful, practiced gesture that concealed his true emotions.

"Why?" He voice, too, revealed nothing.

"Because I don't want her to be born in the wizarding world. I'm also recognizable in the wizarding world, but that's not the really important part. I want her to have a happy childhood away from the war."

"That's what everybody wants for their children right now." Draco said remaining impassive. "And she'll end up in the wizarding world, anyway, unless she's a squib, which as likely as she being ugly." Ginny smiled a little at that.

"But maybe this turmoil will have quieted down by then." She said casually. Draco's face showed surprise for the first time.

"Are you saying-?"

"I'm not saying anything, Draco." She said defensively. "I'm not sure what's up or down at this point. My ankles are swollen, my face and ass are starting to look about the same in general size, and I feel ugly. But I've never wanted to have you here as much as before. I finally understand why women are supposed to be married. Because obligatory sex is the only thing that could keep a pregnant woman from going insane and men from over-populating the world." She finally started laughing, and Draco matched her tone, the rest of the world forgotten in light of Valentine's Day and the accompanying romance.

Chance found her in her hometown, looking up the road that led to her house and snorting with disgust, turning down a road that was less familiar, but felt more comfortable under her feet. She knocked at a flat door, and shifted uncomfortably under her bulk. She finally had some relief from the April winds that threatened to toss her to the ground, where she imagined she would resemble a roly-poly in every attempt to get up. The woman who answered the door, wearing a paint-stained man's shirt, put out her cigarette quickly as soon as she saw Ginny's stomach.

"A man used to live here that I was looking for." Ginny said uncomfortably.

"Rick?" She asked, her fingers twitching nervously, as if she desperately needed another cigarette. "My husband. He still lives here." She was rail-thin and blonde, hopelessly nervous. She danced from foot to foot. "Here, come in." She backed away from the door and continued to sway gently, closing the door behind Ginny. Her eyes glanced to a pack of cigarettes and her hand twitched again.

"I really don't mind." Ginny gestured gently, and the woman, sighing gratefully, twirled a cigarette between her fingers, before placing it and lighting it. She blew smoke guiltily away from Ginny. "So, is he here?"

"Who? Rick?" She asked innocently, her blue eyes wide.

"No, the pope." Ginny snapped.

"No, I don't know the pope." She said seriously. There was a pregnant pause while Ginny thought of something to say, but the woman burst out laughing.

"Jen?" Cried a voice from what Ginny remembered as Rick's studio. "What're you snickering at?"

"I'm just torturing a girl. She's looking for you." She blew out smoke and grinned, still hopping from foot to foot a little. Rick appeared hesitantly, and then walked out, shirt off, paint stained pants hanging at his hips, jaw hanging to the floor.

"Virginia?" He asked. "You're…"

"Pregnant. I'd realized." Ginny said uncomfortably. "And you're…"

"Married. I know." They looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to do. And then he picked her up gently, spinning her in a hug. "My god, you're fat." He said breathlessly.

"If you two combined, you'd actually be wearing an outfit." She giggled. He glanced at his wife, who watched them with wide eyes.

"Oh my goodness, Jenny, I'm sorry. This is my friend, Virginia, Virginia, my beautiful wife, Jenny. Will you grab me a shirt, while you put on some clothes." He asked her, laying his lips gently on her forehead.

"Yes." She said simply and disappeared into the bedroom upstairs.

"Wow, married." Ginny said when she heard the door close. "How did that happen?"

"Um, we met at one of her shows. She's a professional ballet dancer." Rick nodded and then shrugged. "Hey, do you want to sit down?"

"Do I ever." She flopped into a chair in the living room. "My ankles have reached roughly the circumference of my thighs." Rick chuckled at that.

"So, how did you end up pregnant?"

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…" She giggled. "It's not yours or anything."

"I didn't think for a moment it was." Rick said dryly. "Are you still sketching and painting?" He wanted to know.

"Are you kidding me? That's all I do nowadays."

"Did your parents freak?" He asked.

"They don't know. I've been hiding it." Rick raised his eyebrows. "I moved out of the house, so avoiding anyone and everyone."

"It's kind of risky, coming so close to home, don't you think?" She stuck out her tongue at him, and he grinned slyly. Jenny chose that moment to reappear, wearing a tiny little tank and tight exercise pants. She had, yet another, cigarette dangling from between her lips. Leg warmers poked out the top of her gym bag and she surveyed the scene with wide eyes, finally coming to plop next to Rick on the couch.

"That isn't why I came here though. I was wondering whether you could put me in touch with any adoption agencies. I just wouldn't know how to go about it."

"Your doctor should have given you some names." Jenny said.

"Doctor?" Ginny stared blankly and then gasped. "Those Muggle nutters with knives and other highly invasive methods?"

"Muggle?" Jenny looked helplessly at her husband, who was grinning at Ginny.

"Our Virginia is extremely racist." He said, tongue-in-cheek.

"Well, has anyway else looked at you?" Jenny asked.

"No, I've been hiding it." Ginny explained again. "Hiding out, rather."

"Well, first we have to get you a doctor, and then the doctor would have to help you out with finding an adoption agency, because I don't really know the credibility of many of them." She disappeared for a moment and came back with a huge yellow book that flopped around in her hands.

"Now you've done it. You've really gone and done it." Rick said. "She'll be at it for hours."

Ginny just grinned.

An appointment at closing time and they had the whole afternoon to kill. Jenny took her out to lunch and then she went to work out at the single dance studio in the village. Ginny sketched Jenny as she went through repetitions. Rick sat beside her. "You're getting better." He commented.

"Yeah. I sit on my butt and hope that my ankles regain some shape while I put them up on a mountain of pillows. Sketching is about the only thing I can handle at this point. That and All My Children."

"Wow, that's possibly the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"You're telling me." She winced. "This thing uses my spleen as a punching bag. I swear she's malicious."

"She?"

"The father swears he knows."  
"Where is he at?" Rick wanted to know.

"Around." She bit the skin around her nail and continued her sketch as Jenny grabbed her foot and held it high above her head.

"Is he a wizard?" Rick asked innocently. Ginny nodded.

"Good-looking too. Are you two going to have kids?"

"We can't. Jenny got a freak case of cervical cancer that spread to her uterus and ovaries when she was 15. She had to have the whole lot out." Ginny watched Jenny, her tics turning into subtle grace as she danced.

"And she still smokes like she does?"

"Hormones she takes give her killer nerves. She barely sleeps and she can hardly pull off eating. She'd be a great mother, though."

"I bet." Ginny said softly. Jenny smiled at them and then flicked her eyes up to study herself in the mirror, her face molding into a mask of concentration. "Two artists, how do you guys get by?"

"Teaching pays more than my painting does, but the numbers are actually starting to even out a little. And Jenny goes on tour with a dance troupe in the summer. Which lasts her and me for most of the year with a little something for extras and retirement. Being a ballerina pays bank." He shook his head and looked with bright eyes at his wife as she cursed loudly and attempted something that looked perfect over and over again.

"Is she a principal?" Ginny wanted to know, glancing over at the door as a severe looking woman, middle-aged, studied Jenny from the door, a large group of ten-year-olds peering from behind.

"Yeah, she's amazing. Jen!" Jenny looked up and then over towards the class hovering in the hallway.

"Sorry, Ms. P." She said, diminishing somehow, until the same twitchy woman that had entered the studio shouldered her bag and muttered another apology, her hands dancing around as she fumbled for her car keys. The woman quickly assured her it was quite alright, and strolled into the classroom as Rick helped Ginny to her feet, with much difficulty, a flood of young girls in her wake.

Jenny went into the bathroom to change into street clothes. Ginny watched the class begin, the girls, their leotards stretched over child-like bellies and flat chests, as they pushed their feet awkwardly away from each other, their arms fluttering in a mockery of their teacher's grace as she adjusted their stretching with her droning voice. There was one girl in particular whose chunky arms and legs refused to move the way she wanted them to, no matter how she glared at her teacher's reflection, tongue nipped between her teeth.

"Erica." The teacher called the girl out and she stepped forward tentatively, her fingertips still resting on the bar. "There are markings on your leotard, go clean yourself." The girl looked around enough to see that someone had scribbled 'wide load' on the back of her leotard. She burst into tears and a shiver of giggles ran through the group. She ran past Rick and Ginny, straight into Jenny, who was just emerging. Jenny was almost bowled over and looked down with shock at the wailing girl who had just sat flat on the floor, defeated.

"What's your name?" She asked, her fingers playing out a rhythm over shoulders shaking with sobs, just darting back from touching.

"Erica." said a small voice, thick with tears.

"Ms. P's a pretty tough character, but it's a new record for her to have someone leave in tears five minutes in. We'll have to give her a whopping high-five, won't we?"

"It's not Ms. P. The other girls they hate me because… because I'm f-fat!" Erica broke into a fresh wave of sobbing. "They've vandalized me!" She rolled half over to show Jenny who clucked her tongue.

"First let's deal with this fat nonsense once and for all. You are not fat. Ms. P has a fat bum, but she's still a pretty decent dancer. Do you know who Mama Cass is?" Erica shook her head. "Ask your Mum. The woman died choking on a ham sandwich, and she was fat as a cow. But she still had some amazing talents and no one cared that she was big and fat."

"Really?" Erica looked somewhat impressed.

"Really. And all those skinny little twits in there… they'll all end up fat with five kids and a silly looking husband. Do you want to know why?" Erica nodded seriously and Jenny leaned over, half covering her hand with her mouth. "Because they're bitches." She and Erica gasped in unison and Rick snorted delicately. Erica turned her eyes onto him.

"That's my husband, what d'you think?" Jenny asked.

"He's alright." Erica whispered.

"Well, your husband will be better looking." Jenny said seriously.

"He will?" Erica asked, stealing another glance at Rick, who turned red and asked to be excused.

"Yes, he will. Because everyone wants to marry the prima ballerina." Jenny pointed a shaking finger at Erica, who looked down at herself, as if sure there was someone sitting on her.

"I'm not even very good." Erica

"Oh yes you are. I can see it in your eyes. This is my number at my flat, have your mum call me and we'll see about you coming in to practice with me early. Us professionals ought to practice together, don't you think?"

"I suppose." She said, wiping her eyes with her hand, before standing with Jenny, who looked at her backside carefully.

"And you've wiped off the words with the floor, it was only chalk. Clever girl, you knew how to do it without even getting your leotard wet. I hope you can teach me some of this when we work out together." Erica's chest expanded and she looked proud.

"I'll try." She said casually, tucking the piece of paper Jenny had handed her into her leotard, practically swaggering into the classroom. Jenny grinned at Ginny and they met Rick at the car, where he was still giggling to himself.

"Poor girl, She was a little fat, wasn't she?" Jenny said, climbing into the car and lighting up a cigarette, as Ginny and Rick finally broke down into peals of laughter. "More to turn into muscle I suppose."

After they squirted some warm goo onto her stomach from what looked to be a mustard bottle, a technician ran some soft of thing across her swollen belly, and the TV screen that was facing them started to flutter around. "Ew." Ginny complained. The chubby nurse in scrubs covered in salamanders fiddled around with a tray of buttons with letters on them under the screen. She messed around with something and suddenly the room was filled with a faint pulse of sound.

"That's your heartbeat." She announced and then cocked her head moving the dial again. An even fainter, rapid sound was added to the mix. "And that little heartbeat belongs to your baby." Ginny's hand went to her stomach automatically, she quickly pulled her hand away and wiped the goo on Rick's pants. Grinning at him all the while, her head cocked to catch the sound.

"Can you hear?" She whispered, biting her lip happily.

"Yeah, wow." He reached for Jenny's hand, and she looked into Ginny's eyes, her own sparkling.

"That's amazing. Can I?" Her hands reached for Ginny's exposed stomach.

"Wait till I get cleaned up, then it's all yours." Ginny said softly, and closed her eyes, just listening to the combined heartbeats, their rhythms completely disoriented from each other. The wand changed pressure on her abdomen then there was more fiddling with buttons.

"There's your baby." The technician said. Ginny's eyes snapped open and she looked at the screen. "Do you want to know what it is?"

"I know what it is. It's a sea monkey. Gross." She snorted and continued to chuckle to herself. She looked to Rick and Jenny to see if they shared in the joke, but they both looked on with awe, Jenny had silent tears running down her face. She touched her own stomach and her chin wobbled a bit.

"That's your baby, Ginny." She said, grabbing onto Ginny's hand. "She's beautiful."

"Yeah, I reckon she looks like her dad after all…" Ginny joked and this time Jenny looked down and let out a little laugh, wiping her tears away.

"She's right. It's a girl." The technician said.

"Draco will be impossible to live with after this," Ginny mused, glancing up at the couple that still stared, transfixed, at her baby, floating on the screen, her heartbeat still echoing around the room.

"Yeah, so I'm due June 3rd and our baby looks like a pod person. Would you stir this?" Ginny kissed Draco as he took the spoon from her hand and continued to deep fry the vegetables in a Chinese dish that Ginny had been craving and no restaurants made correctly. She poured more lime juice in the Thai soup simmering on the stove.

"Our little girl." He smiled.

"Don't burn those." Ginny said sternly, tipping a package of the little baby octopuses into her soup, practically drooling. "I love kalamari." Draco crinkled his nose.

"Aren't you supposed to be sick? I know I'm about to be."

"I'm not really sick anymore, except when Junior gets me a good one in the gut. Anyway, this is yummy, you must be crazy." She told him.

"I think our marriage just shriveled." Draco said dryly, making Ginny laugh.

"Do you still like Vida Marie?" She wanted to know.

"Yeah. I've had it picked out since before her conception. _Her_ conception."

"Yes, thank you, I know that you're right. I wouldn't want a son of yours anyway, they would just be obnoxious and-"

"You don't mean that." He kissed. "You know that numero dos is going to be a boy anyway."

"How are things at headquarters?" Ginny asked quietly.

"About the same." Draco turned down the heat on the vegetables turning them in circles around the pan as they fizzled and popped.

"Have you?" She reached out for a burn on his shoulder, inflicted by the Dark Lord in a fit of anger.

"Not in about a week." He stared down at his hands. "Ginny, I didn't want to talk about this with you, but…"

"Wait until after the baby's born." She patted his arm. "And then we can talk about whatever you want. Until then, we wait."

"Okay, okay." He bent down, and kissed her stomach. "Hello, Vida Marie, you better come pretty soon, or else Mommy will live in despairing denial for all of our days." He pressed his ear against the barrier between he and his child. Ginny grabbed onto his head and rubbed his hair gently. "Or until Daddy gets murdered."

"Don't talk like that." She chewed on her lip and pulled away from him, stirring the soup. He pretended not to see her cry, which she appreciated, even if she couldn't say it. He simply ran a hand over her hair and tipped the vegetables onto a plate.

"I'm just scared, Gin, okay? And Blaise is really getting to me." Ginny stared at the soup and turned the heat down.

"I can't imagine how she would do that." She said dryly, and then began to cry in earnest. For Vida Marie, who she had to give away, and her dreams, which seemed to be changing even as she achieved them. And for Draco, who held her gently as she sobbed on the kitchen floor, smiling warmly at Bitsy and she manned the damned soup.

"I think I found parents." She said quietly, after what seemed like an eternity.

"That's great." Draco whispered, not looking at her.

"I think… when do you want to meet them?" He looked down at her, starting at him with wide, brown eyes.

"The night is young yet. They're Muggles, right?"

"Yes." She said, "but you'll like them, I promise."

Jenny and Rick had welcomed them into the apartment, laughing at the proffered Tupperware full of Ginny's favorite Thai food. They were all sitting down to dinner, and Jenny wasn't even smoking. It was a grand affair indeed.

"So, what do you do for a living, Draco?" Rick asked.

"Uh… military." He said glancing over at Ginny, who shrugged.

"A wizarding military. How about that?" Jenny laughed. "Rick told me all about everything once you had left, Ginny. I wasn't expecting to see you back so soon."

"Two hours away from you left agony in my heart." Ginny said.

"Glad to hear it. This is really good, I love kalamari." Jenny said.

"Not you, too. Ginny can't stop going on about it." Draco kissed her on the temple and she smiled at him. Rick and Jenny exchanged looks.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Rick wanted to know. Draco shrugged. "What makes you two think that you can't raise a child together? I thought that maybe you weren't together or something…" Ginny and Draco glanced at each other.

"Well, the truth is that money is a factor. As well as, well…" Draco shifted in his seat. "Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?"

Rick looked puzzled for a moment. "Sure."

"You've read Romeo and Juliet?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Yes, I have." Draco said with dignity. "Regardless, the Weasley and Malfoy family relationship rather strongly resembles that of the Montague and Capulet families."

"I get along very well with your Mum." Ginny said stiffly. "But then again I can't imagine my parents inviting you to Christmas dinner."

"Unless of course it was poisoned." Draco snorted. "It also comes down to the war. We're fighting on opposite sides, well, we aren't but our families are. And sometimes I think we picked the wrong side, and a child shouldn't have to grow up in that environment."

"The wrong side?" Jenny looked confused.

"Draco, that's treason." Ginny was annoyed. Rick and Jenny exchanged another significant look.

Ginny looked at the two men whom she had loved most deeply of anyone, and their differences were very distinct, but it became clear to her even more so than before, that if she didn't have Draco to raise her child, she wanted Rick. Draco glanced at her and seemed to realize that this was the time to reveal themselves.

"Actually, we came by for a reason." He said. "I wanted to meet you of course, Ginny's been positively revolting about you two. But also…"

"I was just wondering if you two were ever going to have children." Ginny asked. "Not have them, I know you can't Jenny, and I'm awfully sorry. But do you want them?"

"Yes." Jenny touched Rick's arm. "Deeply. But with me on the road in the summers and everything it's been hard to find time to put it all together."

"I think I know where this is going." Rick said, softly.

"When I came to the door this morning, I might have been a little jealous. Rick was mine, all mine for so long that it was hard to see him with another woman. But you two, you're perfect for each other and you seem as though you'll be the perfect parents. What I mean to say is, would you two like to raise our baby girl?" She grabbed onto Draco's hand and they looked at the couple across from them.

"You don't have to make a decision now," Draco said hurriedly. "We just wanted to throw the idea out there. I wasn't sure that Ginny was right when she told me about you two, but I see it, too. After just an hour in your company, I believe I could completely trust you with my child."

Tears glittered around Jenny's eyes and she stood up hurriedly, a plate crashed to the floor and broke, Ginny looked startled for a moment, and then found herself and Draco swept into Jenny's slender arms. "Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes." She blubbered. "I know we haven't known each other long, but I just feel like this is the most right thing in the world."

"I think there will have to be a little more concern about logistics, but I'm all for it." Rick looked grave and happy, as though already anticipating the weight of being a father on his shoulders.

"That's wonderful." Ginny cried. "Just wonderful."

"Push!" The nurse said encouragingly.

"I'm pushing!" Ginny growled between gritted teeth.

"Well, why isn't anything happening, then?" Draco stood up by her head, looking slightly bored. "Maybe you should try pushing harder."

"If I push any harder, my head is going to explode and I'll make sure to aim my brains so they splatter all over your pristine hair." Ginny said with malice.

"See, now you're not even pushing at all." Draco didn't seem to be at all offended, though he raised a careful hand to his hair. "Can you get up and show me how to work those… wending washers?"

"What?" She shook her head at him. "Can't you see I'm a little busy?"

"It wouldn't hurt for you to walk around a little." The nurse, looking harassed, admitted. "20 years and never had anyone as bad…" She muttered. "It'll be a little while for the doctor to arrive anyway." She helped Ginny up. Draco grabbed onto her arm.

"I think I can take it from here." He told the nurse imperiously, she gaped and walked away shaking her head.

"Miserable little Muggle. She'll probably want to do something with a knife. So what's it feel like?" Draco was taking Ginny towards something with a purpose, he wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and made for the stairs.

"Like my little sea monkey took a wrong turn somewhere and it trying to exit via my spinal cord. Mind you, I'm not surprised, considering that it happens to be your sea monkey as well." She panted. After a particularly disquieting experience with the lift last time she had had an exam and only Draco for company, they had been avoiding the little metal box. The staff had thought it rather funny, but Draco had been reduced almost to hysterics and his suede cloak was now resembled a rubber ducky and resided between the 1st and 2nd floors of the building. Draco still refused to talk about it.

"Wending washers." Draco said proudly as they emerged, pointing at a row of florescent boxes they had seen coming in. Ginny rubbed at a spot in her back and Draco surreptitiously waved his wand at her.

"Much better, love, thanks." She grinned at him. "So, what do these wending washers do?"

"Well, they give you food." He bent to examine them. There were three with large cans on the front and one with different types of Muggle junk food in rows.

"I saw some bloke doing it, and I want something."

"I wouldn't say no to one of those cans. Rick always had those at his house. They have this lovely bubbly stuff in it."

"What like champagne? You're pregnant." Draco said indignantly.

"No. No alcohol." She wrinkled her nose at him. "We've not got anything like it in our world."

"Well, I wouldn't mind having a go. Not if it's like pizza, which was probably invented by wizards, anyway." Draco pulled out a galleon and tried, unsuccessfully to put it into the machine.

"Well, you know what the relations between the Italian Ministry and ours are like at the best of times." Ginny took the galleon and gave it another go at the machine.

"No, I don't." Draco shrugged.

"Well, them introducing pizza to the wizarding world would be similar to the Italian minister leaning over a chair and asking Fudge for a firm spanking." Ginny studied the machine.

"It'll be coming out any time then." Draco grinned shamelessly. "You know what Italian men are like."

"Draco…" Ginny rolled her eyes. "Have you any Muggle money? The instructions don't mention our money as a currency it accepts."

"What do you take me for?" Draco looked affronted.

"A very manly minion of the Dark Lord." Ginny patted him on the chest.

"Damn straight. Maybe you have to talk to it." Draco said. "We used to have an ice box that worked like that."

"Worth a try." Ginny shrugged. "One diet Pepsi, please." She said to the machine, which buzzed at her peacefully.

"Hey!" Draco shook the machine. "The mother of my child wants a diet Pepsi!"

"You're not supposed to do that." Ginny pointed at the side, chuckling merrily. "Look, it fell over on the man." Draco looked at the picture and back at the face.

"Sorry, mate." Draco laid a pacifying hand on the 'P' in Pepsi.

"Well, look, we can just open the lock." She said.

"Isn't that illegal?" Draco asked innocently.

"Isn't it a little late in your career for moral scruples?" She asked. "We'll just close them back up again. Have you got your knapsack? Good, we can fill it up, this whole birthing thing is taking longer than I expected."

Rick and Jenny entered the hospital and were directed from the front desk to the 2nd floor. They were almost at a run, but stopped short at the sight that greeted them in front of the lifts. Ginny was barefoot in a hospital gown and a cloak, with a pile of Milky Ways on the chair next to her. "Hey!" She greeted them eagerly. Draco's head appeared from behind the open door of one of the Pepsi machines. There was a loud clanking and then he stood back and the door swept shut and locked with an audible 'click'. He was wearing what looked like a very masculine dress.

"We were just stealing from the wending washers." He informed them, indicating a very bulky knapsack with his foot. Ginny took a noisy slurp of diet Pepsi.

"Vending machines." Rick said vaguely.

"Oh thank God!" A very frantic nurse appeared from the lift. "You weren't supposed to actually leave the floor!"

"Oh. You never said anything about that." Ginny rolled her eyes at Draco. "You haven't got anything sharp have you?" She suddenly asked suspiciously.

"No!" The nurse looked at the couple in disbelief. Jenny finally found her voice.

"Let's just go upstairs and forget this whole business." She said softly.

"Quite." Draco tried to pick up the bag.

"It's too heavy, would you be a love?" He batted his eyes at Ginny, who shouldered the knapsack with a lot of huffing and wheeling around. The nurse, who looked to the point of tearing out hair, although not maybe her own, rushed forward.

"Don't…!" The force of the look she received from Ginny sent her staggering back a few feet.

"Why don't you take the stairs?" Ginny said frostily.

"But… but… the wheelchair." She said weakly.

"Just let her get in bloody elevator, Gin, and we can end this escapade." Rick motioned them all inside. Draco hopped foot to foot for a moment and then followed. Ginny set the knapsack down with a sound like an explosion and then kicked back in the wheelchair, looking extremely satisfied. Rick hit the button for the second floor, and the feeling of relief was palpable as the lift started upwards. Ginny took another loud sip of Pepsi. The lights flickered for a moment and the lift shuddered gently to a stop.

Ginny was the first to react, which she did by bursting into hysterical laughter, the nurse shortly followed this line of action. "Do you think anything else could go right tonight?" She snorted.

"I hate these fucking things." Draco moaned.

"Can't you do something? You're a wizard." Rick looked at the control panel. "How come there's no alarm bell?"

"Old lift. We're actually getting a new one next week. It's a fire hazard." The nurse managed, wiping her eyes as her laughter calmed slightly. Ginny hiccupped beside her.

"Draco? What can you do?" Rick asked.

"I'm sorry. Lift repair wasn't part of the curriculum at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He glanced at the nurse. "What's your name?"

"Shirley." She said simply.

"Well, Shirley, are you prepared to have your world perception drastically altered?" He smiled politely.

"You've done a creditable job of it so far this evening and we've only known each other a half hour, so yes, I imagine I am." She looked penseive. "Mind you, I think I know what's coming. Witchcraft and wizardry is more than just burning incense and chanting with face paint?"

"It depends on what the face paint is chanting." Ginny giggled.

"Rather." Draco said.

"I need a cigarette." Jenny slid down to the floor.

"Draco, do you remember that chimney spell that we use in the meetings?" Ginny asked, pulling her wand out of her cloak. "I can do it, but I think your spell is wearing off, it feels like someone is poking me in the butt repeatedly."

"Sorry." Rick said.

"Right." Draco glared at Rick for a moment and then climbed onto the wheelchair arms. Shirley protested feebly and then fell silent. Draco cut a section of the ceiling out and then stuck his torso out of the hole. The elevator suddenly fell about a foot and then stopped abruptly. "Right," He said again, jumping down.

"Um…" Rick caught one look from Draco and decided to let him explain in his own time.

"Alright, so when I put this spell on you, your smoke will hit a barrier about two feet in front of you, and then go upwards and go out the hole in the top. It shouldn't come back in. Shirley, can I have your thingy?" Draco looked at Shirley merrily. She looked down and then handed her stethoscope over in disbelief, Draco tapped it and handed Jenny an ornate ashtray, looking rather cheeky.

"Ooh, Bella will be jealous. You made a pretty ashtray for a pretty Muggle." Ginny teased as Draco waved his wand. Jenny lit a cigarette and remained silent watching the smoke bounce in midair and travel towards the messy cut in the ceiling.

"Well, I don't know what that thing was, but it makes for a tasteful ashtray." Draco said simply. There was a keening sound from the corner where Shirley was sitting.

"Can one of you do that disappearing thing that your brothers did?" Rick asked suddenly.

"I don't have my license. In fact, I've been banned from taking the test." Draco said stiffly. "Apparently they do that after your 36th attempt." He sniffed.

"Are your bubbles completely confusing as well? I know I failed at my written twice." Rick said sympathetically. "It didn't stop me from driving, though."

"I don't know what you mean, however, the fact that my left leg doesn't seem to particularly like to follow when I 'disappear', has put me off the practice a bit."

"You are in a hospital." Shirley said helpfully.

"Thank you." Draco hissed acidly. "I still won't take my chances if it's all the same to you."

"As long as it's not your mouth left behind, I don't really care." Shirley snapped.

"Well, you're after people with knives all the time, aren't you?" This seemed to settle the matter for Ginny. "Even if I could Apparate, it's not generally recommended for pregnant women to do." She said with a sigh. "Draco, did you see what the problem is?"

"Um, yeah." Draco scratched his head uncomfortably. "We were stuck on something, it looks like the lift has been hitting it and it repositioned enough to get catch the elevator when it was going up."

"What are we stuck on?" Jenny stubbed out her cigarette.

"Well, a very large bath toy." Draco said. Ginny groaned.

"Pardon?" Jenny spluttered, lighting another cigarette.

"Well, okay, last time we were in the lift, I had a bit of an incident with the elevator and I sort of got stuck on top, regardless, Ginny turned my cloak into a big metal rubber ducky or, I guess it's not really a _rubber_ ducky…"

"A rubber ducky?" Rick looked incredulous.

"It was the only thing I could think of at the time." She shrugged.

"Anyway, I summoned it, and it turned out to be a razor-sharp ducky because it cut through the cable, so I put it back with a permanent sticking charm." Draco scratched his chin, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"A razor-sharp…?" Shirley said.

"It's the only kind I can make! I mean, I am really, really evil." Ginny pursed her lips. "OI!" She bellowed.

"What is it?" Draco knelt in front of her.

"Your spell just wore off." She said through gritted teeth. Shirley got to her feet and knelt in front of the wheelchair. She adjusted the legs until they were horizontal, and then disappeared under Ginny's hospital gown with a flashlight. There was the sound of snapping gloves.

"You've gone back to about five centimeters, that's strange." She commented.

"It's probably the spell, that was Dark magic, wasn't it?" Ginny asked. Draco nodded. "Yep, that would be it."

"Okay, well, it's going to take a while to go back. This is your first?"

"Mmhmm." Ginny studied her nails as Draco poked her with the wand again.

"We're going to be here awhile, than." Shirley leaned back on her heels.

"Congratulations on that observation." Rick said acidly.

"I spy, with my little eye, something white and black with the number four on it." Rick turned to look at his wife, who was nearing the end of her pack.

"The floor button for the 4th floor." He said dryly.

"Damn, I was going to use that next." Ginny said. Shirley emerged from her 4th inspection.

"Are you sure that isn't the same spell?" She asked plaintively. "You're still at five."

"Yes, this one just makes me go numb from the waist down." Ginny grinned. "I love it, it was actually invented for this exact purpose."

"Like an epidural!" Shirley said enthusiastically.

"A what?" Ginny looked blank.

"It's a needle that goes directly into the spinal column and… and…" She didn't finish this thought as she saw the dark look that Draco and Ginny exchanged. "This Dark spell couldn't have done any damage to the child could it?"

"No!" Both teenagers said emphatically.

"Damaged babies don't make for ideal henchmen." Draco said with confidence.

"Not to mention you piss off the hench-people you already have." Ginny said with grim certainty.

"Right." Shirley. "Well, okay."

"It's your turn." Rick said.

"Oh, I spy with my little eye, something green and- "

"The carpet." Four voices intoned.

"-TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, NO MORE BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL!" There was a raucous cheer following the end of the song, and the clinking of five Pepsi cans.

"I hate that song." Shirley said.

"Well, you're wearing penguin pajamas." Draco stated in a tone that clearly indicated this sort of dress invalidated any music reviews.

"They're scrubs. They're very merry." Shirley's tone spoke volumes about the sort of people that judged merry scrubs. There was an intense glare.

"They don't even move." He said thoughtfully. "My pajamas dance and sing."

"It's true. They're bumblebees." Ginny asserted.

"How do you sleep with dancing and singing bumblebees on your pajamas?" Shirley seemed to be truly mystified.

"With the knowledge that I have proper clothing." Draco said with dignity.

"I have to pee." Jenny said suddenly.

"As do I." Rick admitted. The rest of the passengers indicated that they too had felt the call of nature. After everyone had relieved themselves off the edge of the lift, after climbing through the hole, Ginny being controlled by Draco's wand, there was a comfortable lull. Draco had been transporting a carton of cigarettes to Bellatrix when Ginny had gone into labor, so Jenny was thankfully not in any danger of running out. Shirley had finally taken one and gone into the chimney spell with Jenny, taking deep drags, and admitting she needed at least one after her crash course in magic.

Ginny looked at Rick and Draco, who were talking quietly in a corner. It sounded like the topic was wizarding vs. Muggle conventions of behavior.

"And when they mix, especially in aristocracy, like Harry Potter for instance-"

"Who?" Rick asked.

"You've met Harry, Rick. The soppy one." She said with a smile. Rick looked up at her and grinned.

"Ah, I think I understand, then. Adolescence seems to carry more gravity with the pureblood families." He said.

"Exactly, but you wouldn't be talking about the Weasleys." Draco indicated Ginny with his chin.

"Biggest bunch of blood traitors you'll ever meet." She acknowledged. "I can honestly say I'm the only one in my family with any proper knowledge that lack of money doesn't have to mean lack of blood pride."

"Too right." Draco said.

"So, does that mean you hate Muggles and Muggleborn?" Rick asked, apparently confused.

"Hell, no!" Draco snapped. "I don't know a Death Eater except for the oldest of us who really does. We just don't want them in the wizarding world."

"No one actually believes the propaganda that the Dark Lord spits out." Ginny snorted. "I mean, there's only so far you can carry the witch trials. Plus he's a half-blood himself. He had a Muggle father."

"Which is probably why he hates Muggles so much, I mean, his father did abandon him." Draco said. "Then again, I suppose it could go either way, all things considered, his mother was a love struck doormat, who let herself die rather than raise the child of her ex-husband. That might turn me off magic at the same time."

"Poor kid, sounds like he had it rough." Rick said. Ginny and Draco exchanged glances and then burst out laughing.

"No kidding. I think someone should have recommended therapy over a pass to the restricted section, though, aye?" Draco gasped.

"Where would we be then?" Ginny asked quietly.

"There's always someone waiting to step into place." She and Draco shared a look again.

"Finally." Ginny jumped, she hadn't even noticed Shirley coming back for an examination. "You've gained two centimeters." She said.

"Hey Shirley?" Jenny said. "Won't someone notice if this lift isn't working?"

"Sure." She said, and didn't bother to elaborate.

"Well, now that that's been cleared up." Draco smirked.

"It's just that, this elevator is always bungled, but if there are people inside they get out the basement." She shrugged. "The elevator drifts down to the final level and a sensor on the bottom opens the doors. And then the repairmen come by the next morning and put it in working order." There was a long silence following this statement.

"Seriously?" Rick finally said. "You actually…"

"Look, the emergency room is on the first floor, and we have a new set of elevators that we use for in-patients." She glared reproachfully at Ginny. "Nobody in any sort of medical trouble touches these lifts."

"How reassuring." Ginny said, gritting her teeth. "Draco, didn't you use a permanent sticking charm?" Draco looked for a moment extremely guilty.

"Hey, Shirley, don't you need to listen for the baby's heart or something?" He asked, turning round on her. She glared daggers at him.

"I can't. My stethoscope is currently a tasteful ashtray." Shirley said.

"Well, I haven't the faintest how to turn it back." Draco shrugged. "I can turn almost anything into an ashtray, but I don't know how to make anything into a stealthscoop."

"Lovely. Isn't there a spell to turn things back into their original form?" Shirley asked.

"Not for ashtrays." Draco said. "I mean, who wants something back after they've got an ashtray?" He conveyed this thought seriously. There was a careful consideration, followed by general consensus that, no, no one could want anything back once they've got an ashtray. Everyone except Shirley, that is.

"First-born children come to mind." She said.

"Well, what business do you have turning first-born children into ashtrays?" Jenny said wisely. "Second-born and third-born for that matter. Fourth-born would be at personal discretion, I say." Everyone agreed with this train of thought. Even Shirley.

"I never knew my father and both my children died in a car accident that I survived when I was the driver." Shirley aimed a stream of smoke at the hole in ceiling.

"I knew my father, which was just as bad, I used to pray for an accident like that. A salvation." Jenny said softly.

"I had an unbearably happy childhood and I still turned out fucked up." Ginny whispered. The three women watched the two men, who were asleep at the other end of the lift and had, in their slumber, ended up assuming the position of spooning. It could be the most adorable thing Ginny had ever seen, and the other two were quick to agree. Ginny had also, in the last four hours, remained at seven centimeters.

They were quiet again for a long time.

"I suppose it would be in poor taste to try and summon the baby out." Ginny said, chewing thoughtfully her lip.

"Whatever the hell that means, I suppose so." Shirley stubbed out her cigarette and crawled over to the wheelchair, rubbing her eyes tiredly, before hitting her penlight and going in for yet another examination.

"I feel like you're spelunking." Ginny said with a giggle.

"You're at nine." Shirley said with a smile. "You know, spelunking is actually a hobby of mine."

"Got Freud?" Jenny snorted indelicately. They all giggled somewhat helplessly.

"One of these days, I'm going to work too long of a shift and just completely lose it while some poor woman is in labor." Shirley snorted.

"Start commenting on stalactites and stalagmites you've discovered."

"Trying to tell them that you've managed fissures smaller than that before to enter cavernous depths."

"Chatting up the baby with really technical terms, and then lecturing it for not using proper equipment."

"To boldly go where at least one man has gone at least once before!"

Ginny looked at the nurse, whose strong arms and thickset jaw belied the bouncy gray curls and laugh lines. There was an impression of dimples when she laughed, but lines that pulled down from those that gave the impression of misery deep enough to sink into the skin. It surprised her that she didn't care. This indifference sent a shiver up her spine. She reached up to the dog tags at her neck and held them until the metal warmed against her skin. She remembered the guard struggling towards the fireplace, her cool indifference as she had killed him even as her heart had seemed to be burning a hole in her chest, until all of a sudden it seemed to be absent in her chest. Smitty, who accepted death to give his daughter a better life, she was not sorry for his death. And she didn't know why.

"I slept with three men the night before my wedding." Shirley lit another cigarette.

"I only dated women before I met Rick and he doesn't know about it." Jenny glanced sharply at Ginny, who shrugged.

"I'm a mass murderer." Ginny got up and walked around the lift on stiff legs, she squatted a few times experimentally.

"How'd you manage that?" Shirley asked.

"Oh, Rick explained to me. She's a really important person in this war in the wizarding world."

"Really?"

"Oof!" Ginny leaned her head against the doors. "The spell just broke again. Oh, sweet Merlin." The men slept peacefully on. Shirley and Jenny were by her side in a second. They helped her back into the wheelchair, putting her legs up in the horizontal position.

"She's at ten… and…" Shirley laid her hands thoughtfully against Ginny's stomach. "Yep, you're hitting hard labor, Ginny. Do you remember your breathing?"

"Uh, we never got around to that." Jenny admitted. "Lamaze was on my to-do list but,"

"DRACO FUCKING MALFOY!" Ginny exploded. The said person rolled over and kicked at the wall gently. Rick rolled over and wrapped his arm around Draco's waist. "He put on a sound-proofing charm, that son of a bitch." She hissed.

"He-he-hoo." Shirley intoned. "It might help to walk around a bit."

"I'm going to give birth on his head. He-he…"

"Oh my god!" Jenny fluttered about. "That's disgusting! It's like something undercooked… it's French!"

"He-he, not extremely helpful, Jenny!" Ginny gritted her teeth and gave another push. "Hoo... does he think he is?"

"Is that…?" Jenny asked weakly.

"I can see the head, Ginny." Shirley wiped sweat away from her face, leaving a steak of blood in its wake. She smiled encouragingly. "Do you want to touch her?"

"No!" Ginny barked. "Just get it out! I'll touch her later."

"You'll have to give me a hand..." She gestured to Jenny. "Do you want to catch the baby?"

"No." She said vehemently.

"You're a very strange bunch." Shirley said softly.

"You act like this is news." Ginny stared up at the source of the voice.

"Draco." Her tone was sweet and light for a moment. "You utter bastard."

"Sorry, love, if you forgive me this, I'll give you the fair trade of not being mad at you for letting me cuddle with a man for so long."

"Deal." She grinned at him.

"I'd like to catch her." He knelt on the floor next to Shirley.

"So would I…" Rick said grinning at Draco.

"Oh, what the hell." Jenny positioned herself as well. Shirley went up to Ginny's head and smoothed her sweat-damp hair back.

"I need two good pushes." She told Ginny, who obliged, sure that she had ground her teeth to powder from those two earth-shakers alone. There was a long moment, and then six hands supported the slick infant who entered the world without a sound.

"Oh…" Jenny said, her eyes filling with tears. "Oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry."


End file.
